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NOTABLE MEN OF TUB TIME. 



BTOGEAPIIICAL SKETCHES 



ilitari aiiii llalial Icrues, ^falfsmcii an^ Orators, 

DISTINfiUISIIED IN' THE AMERICAN CRISIS OF 18G1-G2. 

EDITED BY FRANK MOORE. 

Wixt\ f artraits crn ^Utl, from ODriginiil Swurtfs. 

: — 1 870 



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NEW YORK: 
O. P. PTTTISTAM, 532 BROAD^VAY. 

C. T. EVANS, GENERAL APrENT. 



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Entered acconVmg to Act of Congress, in the yenr ISOl, 

By a. P. PUTNAM, 

In the Clerk's Olflee of the Iiislrict Court of the United States, for Iho 
Soutliern District of New York. 



C A. AI.VORD. ELECTROn-pKR ANP PRTNTER. 



CONTENTS. 



LlEUTENiNT-GENERAL "WINFIELD SCOTT, U. S. A. . 

Major-General JOHN ELLIS WOOL, U. S. A. . 

"WILLIAM HENRY SEWAED, Secretary op State 

Brigadier-General NATHANIEL LYON 

Lieutenant WILLIAM LOWELL PUTNAM . 

Brigadier-General MICHAEL CORCORAN 

President ABRAHAM LINCOLN .... 

Brigadier-General LOUIS BLENKEB 

M.1J0R-GENERAL FRANZ SIGEL .... 

Rev. henry W. BELLOWS, D. P. . 

LiEUTEifANT JOHN TROUT GREBLE .... 

Major-General NATHANIEL PRENTISS BANKS 

MAJOR-GENTiRAL GEORGE BRINTON McCLELLAN, U. S. A. 

Governor WILLIAM SPRAGUE .... 

Lieutenant HENRY B. HIDDEN ■ . 

Major-General JOHN CHARLES FREMONT,^ U. S. A. 

ALFRED ELY, M. C 

Brigadier-General ABRAM DURYEA . 

Brig.idiee-Generai, JOSEPH K. P. MANSFIELD, U. S. A. 

Majoe-Gen-er.'^l JOHN ADAMS DIX 

Brigadler-General AMBROSE EVERETT BURNSIDE 

Adjutant FRAZAR AUGUSTUS STEARNS- 

Colonel EPHRAIM ELMER ELLSWORTH . 

GIDEON WELLES, Secretary of Navy . 

M.UOR THEODORE WINTHROP .... 

Brigadier-General FREDERICK W. LANDER . 

Brigadier-General WILLIAM STARKE ROSECRANS 

Major-General BENJAMIN F. BUTLER 

CHARLES SUMNER. U. S. Senator .... 





, Frontispiece. 




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69 




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99 




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115 

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127 




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169 
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179 
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187 



iv. C U N T E N r S . 

llAjOE-GEXEaAL HENRY AVAGER HALLECK, U. S. A. . . . 195 

JOSEPH HOLT 203 

Brigadier-Gexeral GEORGE ARCHIBALD McCALL . . . . . .205 

Governor JOHN ALBION ANDREW . ...... 209 

Brigadier-General ROBERT ANDERSON . . . , . . .215 

Reae-Admiral SAMUEL FRANCIS DU" PONT ...... 221 

Colonel EDWARD D. BAKER ......... 225 

Rear-Admiral CHARLES WILKES . . . . . . . .221 

Major-General JOHN POPE ......... 235 

RE.iE-ADMiRAL SILAS HORTON STRINGHAM 241 

Rear-Admiral ANDREW HULL FOOTE ........ 247 



'i 



NOTABLE MEN. 



WINFIELD SCOTT. 

WIXFIELD SCOTT was born near Petersburgh, Virginia, June 13th, 1786 ; was 
the youngest son of William Scott, Esq., and was left an orphan at an early 
age. He was educated at the higli-sehool at Eichmond, whence he went to "William 
and Mary College, and attended law lectures. He was admitted to the bar of Vir- 
ginia in 1806. The next year he went to South Carolina with the intention to take 
up his residence there ; but before he had acquired the right to practise in that state, 
Congress, in view of imminent hostilities with England, passed a bill to enlarge 
the army, and young Scott obtained a commission as captain of light artillery. 

General Wilkinson was then stationed in Louisiana, and Captain Scott was or- 
dered to join the army at that point in 1809. In the next year Wilkinson was 
superseded, and the young captain then expressed what was a very general opinion: 
namely, that his late commander was implicated in Burr's con.spiracy. For this he 
was tried by court-martial, and sentenced to one year's suspension from rank and 
pay. Probably this suspension was a fortunate event; for the whole of that year 
was employed in the diligent study of works on military art. 

War was declared against Great Britain June 18th, 1812 ; and in July of the 
same year Captain Scott was made a lieutenant-colonel in the second artillery, and 
was stationed at Black Rock with two companies of his regiment. With this force 
he covered Van Rensselaer's passage of the Niagara River on the expedition against 
Queenstown, October 13th. Later in the day, when Van Rensselaer was disabled, 
the command fell upon Scott, who, after a gallant figlit, deserted by the New York 
militia, and outnumbered very greatly by British reinforcements, surrendered his 
whole command, two hundred and ninety-three in all, prisoners of war. 

While a prisoner, he saw the British officers select from the American soldiers 
taken with him such as appeared to be Irishmen ; and these men, they declared, 
were to be sent to England as British subjects, there to be punished for treason. 
Scott then, in the presence of the British officers, assured the soldiers that the United 
States government would not quietly see them suffer, and would certainly retaliate 
upon British prisoners the treatment they should receive. Exchanged in January, 



•4 NOTABLE MEN. 

1813, ho immediately made a report of tliis matter to the secretary of war. Laid 
before Congress, this report originated the act by which the President of the United 
States was invested with "the power of retaliation;" and from prisoners subsequently 
taken by himself, Scott chose a number equal to the number sent to England to 
abide their fate. For this purpose he was careful to choose only Englishmen. 

Immediately after the capture of York, Upper Canada, Scott rejoined the army 
on the frontier as adjutant to General Dearborn, with the rank of colonel. He took 
part in the expedition against Fort George ; landed his men in good order, and 
scaled a steep height in the presence of the enemy, who was linally driven from liis 
position at the point of the bayonet. Fort George was then no longer tenable, and 
the British abandoned it, having placed slow matches to all the magazines. Only 
one of them exploded, and from a piece of timber thrown by it. Colonel Scott re- 
ceived a severe wound in the left shoulder. Disaster and disgrace marked the close 
of this cam|jaign and for another it was necessary to form a new army. 

In March, ISli, Colonel S(rott was made a brigadier-general, and immediately 
thereafter established a camp of instruction at Bufl'alo, where his own and Eipley's 
brigades, with a battalion of artillery, and some regiments of volunteers, were drilled 
into thorough and accurate discipline. 

Brigadier-General Scott crossed the Niagara River with his brigade July 3d, 
181-1; on the fourth skirmished for sixteen miles with a detachment under the Mar- 
quis of Tweedale; and that night encamped upon Street's Creek, two miles from 
the British camp at Chippewa. Between the two camps lay the plain upon which 
the battle was fought next day. East of this plain was the Niagara River, west 
was a heavy wood ; and on the northern side from the wood to the Niagara ran 
the Chippewa River, while Street's Creek ran in a similar direction on the southern 
side. Behind the Chippewa was the British army under General Riall, well pro- 
vided with artillery. 

About noon of the fifth, a bright, hot summer's day, there occurred a skirmish 
of light troops in the wood. Some Indians and Britisli militia •were there engaged 
l)y General Porter, with volunteers, militia, and friendly Indians, and driven back 
until they came upon t'le main body of the British army, which was seen to be in 
motion when Porter's irregulars broke and fled. Major-General Brown, in the wood 
with Porter, thus iirst learned of the British advance ; and Brigadier-General Scott, 
also ignorant of it, was leading his brigade into the plain to drill. This was at four 
P. M. Brown hurried to the rear to bring ttp Eipley's brigade, and Scott's force 
passed the bridge over Street's Creek in perfect order under the British fire. The 
action soon became general. Major Jessup, with a battalion in the wood, for some 
time checked the cncmv's right wing, whereupon the enemy left one battalion with 
him, finned a new I'iglit, and (■(intinucd to advance. The ])ritisli line was now drawn 
nearly S(iuare across the jilain. (>|i|i()sed was a battalion umlc]- McNeill, which faced 



WINFIELD SCOTT. 



las right obliquely, and another under Leavenworth, which opposed his left iu the 
same manner. Scott's line, thus formed, and supported by Towson's artillery on the 
right, continued to advance, fire, and halt, until it was within eighty paces of the 
.enemy, when McNeill's and Leavenworth's battalions, almost simult'aneously, charged 
with the bayonet. This shock was decisive; the British army broke and fled, pur- 
sued nearly to its intrcnchments, in complete rout. The American loss was three 
hundred and twenty-seven, the enemy's five hundred and three ; while the Americans 
engaged numbered only one thousand nine hundred, and the British two thousand 
one hundred. Three of the enemy's regiments, the Eoyal Scots, the Queen's Own, 
and the Hundredth regiment, were esteemed the best troops in the British anny. 

Much gloom was cleared from the public mind by this battle; it atoned for 
many disasters, and the country was taught, when it needed most to know it, that 
American soldiers, in projicr hands, were equal to those whose skill and discipline 
had been acquired in the hard-fought fields of the Peninsular war. "Brigadier 
General Scott,' said General Brown in his oflicial report, "is entitled to the highest 
praise our country can bestow." 

With Scott's brigade still in the van, the American army passed over the Cliip 
pewa two days after the battle, and the British army retreated before it. But to 
mask a movement against Burlington Heights, a feigned retreat was almost imme 
diately made. Should this fail to draw the enemy out, it was intended to use the 
2oth of July as a day of j-est, and force an action on the 26th ; but on the 25th word 
came that a portion of the enemy's force had crossed the Niagara, and Scott was 
sent forward to attack the remainder thus weakened. His force consisted of four 
small battalions of infantry, Towson's battery, and a detachment of cavalry, one 
thousand three hundred men in all. Al^out two miles from camp he came upon the 
enemy drawn up in line of battle on Lundy's Lane. No British troops had crossed 
the Niagara, and Scott was now in front of the same army he had beaten on the 5t]i. 
swelled with a heavy reinforcement which had come up unknown to him only the 
night before. Eetreat must have a bad efi-ect on the force behind him : to stand fast 
was impossible, as he was already under fire; he therefore advanced, determined to 
hold the enemy in check, if possible, till the whole American army should come up. 
The battle began a little before sunset, and continued into the night. Major-Gencral 
Brown arrived upon the field, and assumed command at nine p. m. Then the 
enemy's riglit, in an attempted flank movement, had been driven back with lieavy 
loss; his left was cut off" and many prisoners taken: his centre alone remained firm 
covered by a battery on a hill, which was finally carried by the bayonet. 

Scott received a severe wound in the side early in the night," and at eleven 
o'clock was disabled by a musket-ball in the left shoulder, and borne from the 
field. 

For his gallant c.ndu.'t in these twc battles. Scott was breveted major-general, 



b NOTABLE MEN. 

received a gold medal from Congress, and was tendered a juisitidu in the cabinet as 
secretary' of war, whieli lie declined in favor of his senior. While yet feeble from 
his wounds, he went to Europe by order of the government, for the restoration of 
his health and for professional improvement. He returned home in 1816, and in 
March of the following j'car was married to Miss Maria Mayo, daughter of John 
Mayo, Esq., of Richmond, Virginia. 

Ordered to the command of the forces intended to act against the savages in 
the Black Hawk war, in May, 1832, General Scott reached Prairie du Chien the 
day after the battle of Bail Axe, which ended the war, and in time only to assist 
]n the preparation of the treaties thereupon ninde witli the various tribes. From 
the western frontier, he arri^■ed in New York in October, 1832, and was at once 
ordered to Charleston, S. C. Nullification had there agitated the community since 
the passage of the revenue act of 1828, and in 1832 a state eonventi(.)n provided 
for resistance to the objectionable law. President Jackson pronounced the resist- 
ance thus proposed incompatible with the existence of the Union ; and the governor 
of the state called out twelve thousand volunteei's. General Scott's duty at Charles- 
ton was to examine the forts in the harbor, and strengthen and reinforce them if 
he deemed it necessary; and he was ordered to act subordinately to the United 
States civil authorities in all that he did, but to prepare for any danger. Every 
]iart of this duty was discharged with an admirable forbearance and delicacy, which 
tended greatly to soothe, and did much to allay the angry excitement; and South 
Cai'olina, thus firmly met, rescinded her nullification ordinance. 

In January, 1836, Scott was ordered to Florida, and opened a campaign against 
the Indians there, which, from the nature of the country, the climate, inadequate 
stores, and the insufficiency of his force, proved entirely fruitless. Greater success 
crowned his cftbrts against the Creek Indians in the same year, and all went on 
well until, in July, he was recalled, that inquiry might be made into his first 
failure. U[)on full deliberation, the court of iiKpury pronounced his Seminole cam- 
paign '"well devised, and prosecuted with energy, steadiness, and ability." Yet he 
took no further part in the Florida war, though it employed the government for 
six years longer. 

Canada became, in 1837, the scene of great |)olitical excitement, and all along the 
northern frontier the American people sympathized with the patriot party over the line, 
and their sympathy became active. Navy Island, in the Niagara River and within 
the British line, was occupied by some hundreds of Americans, who kept up com- 
munication with the American side liy the small steamer Caroline ; and this steamer, 
while at tlic wharf on the American side, was cut loose at night by a British force, 
fired, and sent over the Falls. Great excitement spread through the whole country 
with the news. General Scott was ordered to the point January 4th, 1838. Through 
the H'liiaindi'r <>l' the wintrr he v/as occupied in the organization of a regular and 



WINFIE LI) SCOTT. 7 

volunteer force ; but at the same time he exercised everywhere a gi'eat influence for 
peace, and mainly through his noble exertions in this direction the war-cloud 
passed by. 

Again he was ordered to the Canada line in the next year. Hostile move- 
meats were then on foot in the Maine boundary dispute. Congress had appropriated 
ten millions of dollars, and authorized the president to call and accept volunteers. 
British troops were in motion toward the disputed territory ; the Maine militia was 
ready to move, and correspondence between the two governments had come to an 
end. Yet Scott, from his first appearance, became a mediator. He was met in a 
similar spirit on the other side by Sir John Harvey, of the British army, with 
whom he had had not dissimilar relations in the campaign of 1814; and the corre- 
spondence begun between the two veterans brought about a peaceful solution of 
the whole difficulty. 

In June, 1841, upon the death of Major-General Macomb, General Scott be- 
came commander-in-chief of the entire army of the United States. 

War with Mexico having resulted upon the annexation of Texas, General Scott 
was ordered to that country in November, 1846, and reached the Rio Grande in 
January, 1847. The battles of Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma, had then been 
fought, and the town of Monterey taken. 

General Santa Anna was at San Luis Potosi, witli twenty thousand men. Tay- 
lor was at Monterey with eighteen thousand, and Scott had with him only a small 
portion of the force with which it had been arranged that he should act against 
Vera Cruz. Government, busied only with the attempt to supersede him by the 
appointment of a civilian to the post of lieutenant-general, virtually abandoned Scott 
to his fate. Santa Anna knew that Vera Cruz was to be attempted, and how he 
would act was doubtful. Scott, in this juncture, drew from Taylor's force enough 
regular infantry to swell his own force to twelve thousand. With this number he 
moved forward and invested Vera Cruz March 12th; on the 22d the bombardment 
was begun. Arrangements w^ere made to carry the city by storm on the 26th, but 
on that day overtures of surrender were made by the governor, and were completed 
on the 27th. Ten days later the army, eight thousand strong, took the road to 
the city of Mexico, defeated the Mexican army, fifteen thousand strong, under Gen- 
eral Santa Anna, at Cerro Gordo, April 18th, entered Jalapa the day after, occu- 
pied the strong castle and town of La Perote, April 22d, and the city of Puebla 
May 15th. Only thirty-four days had elapsed from the investment of Vera Cruz, 
and there were already taken ten thousand prisoners of war, ten thousand stand of 
of arms, seven hundred cannon, and thirty thousand shells and shot. 

When he reached Puebla, Scott had left capable of the march on the city of 
Mexico but four thousand five hundred men ; but at Puebla he was detained by 
negotiations for peace, which proved futile. Meantime reinforcements arrived, and 



8 NOTABLE MEN. 

the army, increased Ly these to the number of ten thousand, again moved forward 
AuEfust 7th. 

Every practicable road to the city of Mexico, within the valley in which that 
city lay, was now held by parts of the Mexican army, and fortified with great skill. 
Contreras, San Antonio, and Churubusco, with ten batteries in all, must of neces- 
sity be carried, as they could not be turned, nor with safety left behind. General 
Valencia held Contreras with seven thousand troops, and twenty-two pieces of artil- 
lery, and Santa Anna had twelve thousand men in the woods behind it. After an 
indecisive action of three hours, August 19th, the United States troops stood to 
their arms all night in roads flooded by heavy rain that fell incessantly, and at day- 
light on the 20th carried the place by storm. So rapidly was the latter attack made, 
that the division ordered to mask it by a diversion had not time to arrive; and the 
actual fight lasted only seventeen minutes. 

By the capture of Contreras, Churubusco was taken in flank, and San Antonio 
in the rear. The troops were immediately moved forward to attack the latter place, 
when the enemy evacuated it. Churubusco only iTmaincd ; its defences were a 
tete-de-pont on the main causeway, and a convent strongly fortified. After a fierce 
struggle, both these defences were taken, the tete-de-pont at the point of the bayonet. 
Upon this day the Mexican loss alone exceeded, by three thousand, the whole 
American army. 

To the military possession of the city of Mexico, it was yet necessary that the 
castle of Chapultepcc should fall. Molino del Key and Casa de Mata, dependencies 
of Chapultepcc, were carried by assault September 8th ; heavy siege-guns were placed 
in battery September 12th, and by the 13th had made a practical)le breach in the 
walls of the military college, which was stoi-med the same day. From Chapultepec, 
Mexico city is within range, yet it still resisted, and two divisions of the anny 
skirmished all day at the city gates ; but the same night Santa Anna marched 
out with the small remnant of his amiy, and the city of Mexico lay at the mercy 
of Major-Gcneral Winfield Scott. 

About daylight of the 14th, the city council waited upon the General to de- 
mand terms of capitulation for the church, the citizens, and the municipal author- 
ities; to this the general replied, that the city was already in his possession, and 
that the army should be subject to no terms not self-imposed, or such as were not 
demanded by its f)wn honor, and the dignity of the United States. 

"Winfield Scott, with his small and heroic army, had accomplished the object 
of the war ; peace was concluded February 2d, 1848, and very shortly after he re- 
ceived from Washington the order, dated previously to the conclusion of peace, by 
which he was suspended from command, and a court of inquiry was ordered upon 
charges preferred against him by brevet Major-General Worth. This court con- 
sisted of brevet Brigadier-General N. Towson, paymaster-general, Brigadier-General 



WINFIELD SCOTT 



Caleb Cusliing, and Colonel E. G. W. Butler; thus a i.aymaster-general, a brigadier 
of volunteers, and a colonel of dragoons, were ordered to examine the conduct of 
the veteran commander upon the charge of a subordinate. 

General Worth's charges were, that Scott " had refused to say whether he was 
the person referred to in a certain arrnj order, and refused to forward c^harges 
against him to the war department." Secretary Marcy virtually admitted that the 
conduct of the government needed defence in this matter, by making an argument 
in Its support. But the whole country was astonished, and the people did not 
sympathize with the cold indifference of formality. Scott relinquished the com- 
mand, and appeared before the court, which sat, first in Mexico, and subsequently 
in Washington; but meantime the war temiinated, the transactions of the court 
were allowed to fall out of view, no decision was ever given, and General Winfield 
Scott resumed his position at Washington as commander-in-chief of the army. 

In June, 1852, Winfield Scott was nominated a candidate for the oflice of 
president of the United States, by the Whig National Convention, at Baltimore. 
By a great portion of the people, this nomination was received with sincere joy , 
but it was reserved for the hero to receive his first great defeat at the hands of his 
countrymen. 

Government, in 1859, with the desire to confer some additional mark of honor, 
bestowed upon the gallant veteran the brevet rank of lieutenant-general; and to 
make it the more clearly a personal distinction, and not a mere addition to army 
grades, the brevet was purposely so framed that it should not survive him. 

When the Southern rebellion began in 1860, General Scott adhered earnestly and 
uncompromisingly to the constitution and government of the United States,' with 
whose history his life was identified, and for whose honor he had ever so consist- 
ently labored. With what pain he saw those dear to him for many years foil away 
from their allegiance, may be conceived ; but he, a son too of that Vii-ginia that has 
given so many soldiers to the country, felt that he was not so much a'^southenier as 
a citizen of the United States. From the commencement he saw that the true course 
was to meet the trouble firmly, and his suggestions, made while James Buchanan was 
still president, were such as, if followed, would have crushed rebellion in its very 
birth. But they were all unheeded. Twenty-eight years before, and in the same city 
of Charleston, Winfield Scott had been present at the rehearsal of this drama of 
secession— yet all the experience then gained, was not only not permitted to be of 
service to the country, but the old soldier was even compelled to abandon to its 
fate, a brave garrison in an insufiiciently provided fort. Despite, howevei-, the in- 
activity forced upon him by weakness, or crime, General Scott secured to the gov- 
ernment the possession of Washington city, which it was openly asserted could not 
be saved, and also secured the safe inauguration of President Lincoln. 

General Scott's experience, and great knowledge of the American people, were 



10 NOTABLE MEN. 

of infinite value in tlio organization of the army destined to act against the rebels. 
To an early movement of that army he gave a reluctant consent, and disaster fol- 
lowed the departure from his advice. Many differed with him, honestly no doubt, 
as to the method most likely to crush rebellion ; yet every American must bit- 
terly regret that neither his honorable and great services, nor his age, could, upon 
that point, preserve the veteran from the gross vituperation of an intemperate and 
ribald press. 

Finally, feeling himself no longer equal to the proper discharge of the import- 
ant duties of his position ; and that the best service he could render his country 
would lie to make room for a younger man, Lieutenant-General Scott retired from 
the army, November 1st, 1861. No act of history is marked by more of simple 
dignity and truth, than this withdrawal of tlic man who felt that in the decay of 
age his faculties were no longer equal to the requirements of his country. Ui3on 
his conclusion to retire. General Scott wrote thus to the secretary of war: 

" Headquarters of titb Army, 

Wasuinoton, October .31«f, 18C1. 

" To THE Hon. Simon Cameron, Sec. of "War : 

"Sir: — For more than three 3'ears I have been unable from a hurt to 
mount a horse, or to walk more than a few paces at a time, and that with much 
pain. Other and new infirmities, dropsy and vertigo, admonish me that repose of 
mind and body, with the appliances of sui'gery and medicine, are necessary to add 
a little more to a life already protracted mucli beyond the usual span of man. It 
is under such circumstances, made doubly painful by the unnatural and unjust 
rebellion now raging in the southern states, of our so lately j^rosjjerous and happy 
Union, that I am compelled to request that my name shall be placed on the list 
of army officers retired from active service. As this request is founded on an ab- 
solute rigiit, granted by a recent act of Congress, I am entirely at liberty to say it 
is with deep regret that I withdraw myself in these momentous times, from the 
orders of a president who has treated me with much distinguished kindness and 
courtesy, whom I know, upon much personal intercourse, to be patriotic without 
sectional partialities or prejudices; to be highly conscientious in the performance 
of every duty, and of unrivalled activity and perseverance ; and to you, Mr. Secre- 
tary, whom I now officially address for the last time, I beg to acknowledge my 
many obligations for the tiniform high consideration I have received at your hands, 
and have the honor to remain, sir, with high respect, 

'■ Your obedient servant, 

"Westfield Scott." 

In response the Secretary of War wrote as follows : 



WINFIELD SCOTT. 11 

" Wak De1'A1!TMENT, 

Wasuington, Novemher \»t. 
" Ge^'eral : — It was my duty to lay before the President your letter of yester- 
day, asking to be relieved, under the recent act of Congress. In separating from 
you, I cannot refrain from expressing my deep regret that your health, shattered 
by long service and repeate<l wounds, received in your country's defence, should 
render it necessary for you to retire from your high position at this momentous 
period of our history. Although you are not to remain in active service, I yet hope 
that while I continue in charge of the department over which I now preside, I shall 
at times be permitted to avail myself of the benefits of your wise counsels and sage 
experience. It has been my good fortune to enjoy a personal acquaintance with you 
for over thirty years, and the pleasant relations of that long time have been greatly 
strengthened by your cordial and entire co-operation in all the great questions which 
have occupied the department and convulsed the country for the last six months. 
In parting from you, I can only express the hope that a merciful Providence, that 
has protected you amidst so many trials, will improve your health, and continue 
your life long after the people of the country shall have been restored to their for- 
mer happiness and prosperity. 

"I am, general, very sincerely, your friend and servant, 

" Simon Cameron, Secretaiy of War. 
"Lt.-Gen. Winfield Scott, Present." 

General Scott's request, it was decided in a special cabinet council, held No- 
vember 1st, could not be declined in view of his age and infirmities ; and in the 
afternoon of the same day, the President, attended by all the members of the cabi- 
net, waited upon General Scott at his residence, and there read to him the following 
order : 

" On the first day of November, A. D. 1861, upon his own application to the 
President of the United States, brevet Licutenant-Gencral Winfield Scott, is ordered 
to be placed, and hereby is placed upon the list of retired officers of tlie army of 
the United States, without reduction in his current pay, subsistence or allowance. 

" The American people will hear with sadness and deep emotion that General 
Scott has withdrawn from the active control of the army ; while the President and 
unanimous cabinet express their own and the nation's symjjathy in his personal afflic- 
tion, an<l their profound sense of important public services rendered by him to his 
country during his long and brilliant career, among which will be gratefully distin- 
guished, his faithful devotion to the constitution, the Union, and the flag, when as- 
sailed by parricidal rebellion. 

"Abraham Lincoln." 



12 



iVOTABLE MEN 



General Scott, tlicreuiiou rose, and thus addressed the President and eabinet, 
wlio liad also risen : 

"President, this honor overwhelms me. It overpaj's all services I have at- 
temjjted to render to my country. If I had any claims before, they are all oliliter- 
ated by the expression of approval by the President, with the remaining support of 
his cabinet. I know the President and this cabinet well. I know that the country 
has placed its interests in this trying crisis in safe keeping. Their counsels are wise, 
their laljors are as untiring as thej- are loyal, and their course is the right one. 

" President, you must excuse me. I am not able to stand longer to give utter- 
ance to the feelings of gratitude which oppress me. In my retirement I shall ofter 
up my prayers to God fjr this administration and for my country. I shall pray 
for it with confidence in its success over all enemies, and that speedily." 

The President and the members of the cabinet then severally took leave of the 
general. 

Upon the same day Major-General George B. McClellan was appointed General 
Scott's successor in command of the army, and issued the following general order: 

" IIeadquakteks of the Army. 

Washingtox, Novcmhcr Ist, 18(11. 
[GENERAL ORDERS No. 19.] 

" In accordance with general order No. 04, from the war department, I hereby 
assume command of the armies of the United States. 

" In the midst of the diifieulties which encompass and divide the nation, hesita- 
tion and self-distrust may well accompany the assumption of so vast a responsibility, 
but, contiding as I do in the loyalty, discipline, and courage of our troops, and be- 
lieving as I do that Providence will flavor ours as the just cause, I cannot douljt 
that success will crown our efforts and sacrifices. The army will unite with me 
in the feeling of regret that the weight of many years and the effect of increasing 
infirmities, contracted and intensified in his country's service, should just now remove 
from our head the great soldier of our nation, the hero, who in his youth raised 
high the reputation of his country in tlie fields of Canada, which he sanctified with 
his blood ; who, in more mature years, proved to the world that American skill 
and valor could repeat, if not eclipse, the exploits of Cortcz in tlie land of the 
Montczumas; whose whole life has been devoted to the service of his country, whose 
wliole efforts have been directed to uphold our honor at the smallest sacrifice of 
life; a warrior who scorned the selfisli glories of the battle-field when his great 
qualities as a statesman could lie employed more profitably for his country; a citizen 
who in his declining yeai-s has given tc^ the world the most sliinincr instance of lovaltv 



WINFIEI.n SCOTT. 13 

in disregarding all ties of birth, and clinging still to the cause of truth and honor. 
Such has been the career and character of Winfield Scott, whom it has long been 
the delight of the nation to honor, both as a man and as a soldier. While we recret 

to 

his loss, there is one thing we cannot regret — the bright example he has left for 
our emulation. Let us all hope and pray that his declining years may be passed 
in peace and happiness, and that they may be cheered by the success of the countiy 
and the cause he has fought for and loved so well Beyond all that, let us do nothing 
that can cause him to blush for us. Let no defeat of the army he has so lono- com- 
manded embitter his last years ; but let our victories illuminate the close of a life 
so grand. "George B. McClellan, 

"Major-General Commanding U. S. A." 

Eight days later General Scott sailed from New York for Europe, there to join 
his family and seek repose from the labor and excitement that, added to his years, 
had so nearly borne him down. 

President Lincoln in his message of December 3d, 1861, to Congress, thus re- 
fers to the retirement of General Scott: 

"Since your last adjournment, Lieutenant-General Scott has retired from the 
head of the army. During his long life the nation has not been unmindful of his 
merit. Yet, on calling to mind how faithfully, ably, and brilliantly, he has served 
the country from a time flir back in our history, when few of the now livino- had 
been born, and thenceforward continually, I cannot but think that we are still his 
debtor. 

" I submit, therefore, for your consideration what further mark of recognition 
is due to him and ourselves as a grateful people." 

These words, a noble tribute in themselves, have hitherto called out no response 
from Congress ; and it remains to be seen what action will be taken to express the 
full sense of the nation's gratitude toward the great man who has for so long a 
period so faithfully and faultlessly served it. 




'\i^= 




^P7^ 



^'-^^^.^ 



'^ 



'iJ-tC. GEN . JOHN 



JOHN ELLIS WOOL. 

JOTIlSr ELLIS "WOOL was born at Newburg, in tlie state of New York, in 
the year 1789. He received, in early life, only a rudimentary education, and 
for the greater part of liis youth was employed as clerk in a store in the city of 
Troy. Dissatisfied with this condition in life, he began the study of law, continued 
it for one year and then gave it up. This relinquishment of his first ambition fell 
just in that period when the country began to prepare for the war that soon ensued 
witli Great Britain, and when Congress stormily debated the increase of the mili- 
tary force. Fired with a patriotic spirit, and an earnest desire to ser\'e his country. 
Wool's ambition at once sought a more extensive sphere, and upon the enlargement 
of the army he obtained, April 14th, 1812, a captain's commission in the Thirteenth 
Eegiment of Infantry. He soon after joined the army under General Van Rensse- 
laer, on the Niagara frontier, and there passed the summer of 1812 in the drill and 
discipline of his men, and other technical duties of his rank. 

Captain Wool's command was part of the force in the expedition against 
Queenstown, and in the brilliant struggle at Queenstown Heights, the young ofiicer 
won his first distinction. After Colonel Van Rensselaer was carried from the field, 
and previous to the arrival of General Van Rensselaer, the command, for a time, 
rested with, and was held conjointly by, Captains Wool and Ogilvie. Wool re- 
ceived a severe wound in this fight, and by the eventual surrender, became a 
prisoner of war; but his gallantry was recognized, and lie was promoted to be a 
Major, and upon his exchange assigned to the Twenty-ninth Regiment of Infantry, 
April 13th, 1813. Stationed at Plattsburg, he participated in the successful re- 
sistance offered at that point to the British army under Prevost, and again became 
conspicuous for his gallantry. He was especially efficient in harassing the march 
of the British army, and in the various minor struggles that for five days preceded 
the principal battle on the Saranac. For his gallant conduct in the battle of the 
llth September he was breveted Lieutenant-Colonel. 

In September, 1816, he was appointed Inspector-General of the army, with the 
rank of Colonel ; in Februaiy, 1818, Lieutenant-Colonel of infantry; and for "ten 
years of faithful service," he was breveted Brigadier-General, April 29th, 1826. 

In 1832 General Wool was sent to Europe in government commission to obtain 
information on military matters, and in the discharge of that duty, travelled through 



16 NOTABLE MEN. 

fill of France and Belgium, and was present at the siege and bombardment of 
Antwerp by the French. In 1836 he assisted in tlie removal of the Indians from 
the Cherokee country to Arkansas, and in two years after was placed in com- 
mand of the troops posted on the Maine frontier. lie was appointed a Brigadier- 
General, June 25th, 1841. 

Brigadier-General Wool, in the war with Mexico, commanded the "centre di- 
vision" of the United States army, organized to act against Chihuahna, in pursu- 
ance of the jn-imary plan of the United States government to cut off from Mexico its 
more northerly provinces. Though thus in command of a separate division, General 
Wool was subject to the orders of General Taylor. Taylor, however, only named the 
point of destination, and left all beside to the discretion of Wool. His command 
assembled at San Antonio de Bexar, in Texas, and comprised three thousand men. 
Washington's battery of light artillery fonned part of it. General Wool began his 
march September 26th, 1846, and in eleven days reached the Eio Grande, near to 
San Juan Bautista, better known as Presidio. At that point the river is two hundred 
and seventy yards wide, and has an exceedingly rapid cuiTcnt ; but a flying bridge, . 
brought with the army, was thrown across, and the whole command and an immense 
train of stores were safely landed on the opposite shore by the night of October 
11th. Thus within the Mexican tciTitory, General Wool published an order in 
which he stated that the army of the United States would act only against the 
]\Iexican government ; that all who did not take np arms, but remained peaceably 
in their homes, would not be molested either in their persons or property ; and that 
all who furnished supplies would be treated kindly, and paid for whatever w'as 
taken. From Presidio the division marched by San Juan de Nava, San Fernando 
de Kosas, and Santa Kosa to Monclova. The authorities of the latter place protested 
against General Wool's advance upon it, and on November 3d he entered with the 
army, and took formal possession of the town. Orders were here received from 
General Taylor for the " centre division" to remain at Monclova until the end of the 
aimistice, and it consequently rested twenty-seven days. Meantime the troops were 
incessantly drilled, and stores were collected for the establishment of a depot. Two 
hundred and fifty men were detached to guard the depot, and on the 24t]i November 
the division took up the line of march for Parras, one hundred and eighty miles distant. 
At Parras it was intended to take the great road from Saltillo to Chihuahua, but 
uj^on its arrival there the division was held to co-operate, if necessary, with General 
Taylor then threatened by Santa Anna, and weakened by the withdrawal of troojis 
for Scott's line of operations. While the " centre division" still i-emaincd at Parras, 
General Taylor learned of an intention upon the part of the Mexicans to surprise 
Saltillo, and massacre the small body of American troops stationed there, and im- 
mediately sent woi'd with marching orders to General Wool, and also to General 
Butler at Monterey. " Wool, who had been marching from Port Lavoca to Parras 



JOHN ELLIS WOOL. 



17 



in search of a battle," says Kipley in liis History of the War, " and who, in his de- 
sire of adventure and fame, had only wished to abandon the Chihuahua expedition 
in order to penetrate, with his single corps, still further south in the direction of Du- 
rango and Zacatecas, hailed the news as the harbinger of glory to be acquired. He 
at once broke up his camp at Parras, and marched with the greatest celerity tow- 
ard Saltillo, pushing his artillery and cavalry at the rate of forty miles a day." 
General Butler also hurried forward ; and General Taylor marched upon Saltillo 
with Twiggs's division ; and the Mexicans consequently made no attack. From this 
time, however, the " centre division" was merged into the " arm}" of occupation," 
and joined General Taylor's command at Agua Nueva, December 21st ; and from that 
time until the battle of Buena Vista was fought, the whole American camp, and 
the instruction and discipline of the soldiers, were placed under General Wool's 
command and direction. 

Upon the second day after Wool's arrival at Agua Nueva, an incident occurred 
to which the subsequent battle gave importance. Accompanied by several gentle- 
men of his command, and his aide-de-camp. Lieutenant Irwin McDowell, he rode 
from his camp at Agua Nueva, December 22d, to visit Generals Butler and Worth 
at Saltillo, and upon his return next day, and while in the pass or narrows near 
tlie Hacienda of Buena Vista, he said, " This is the very spot of all others I have 
yet seen in Mexico, which I should select for battle, were I obliged with a small 
army to fight a large one." He then described the various advantages of the posi- 
tion, and rode on. General Taylor at this time intended, if attacked, to fight at 
Agua Nueva, and General Butler opposed the wish of General Wool to form his 
encampment near to Buena Vista, and even compelled the removal of the camp 
after it was formed there. General Taylor, however, upon examination, agreed 
with General Wool as to the advantages of the position at Buena Vista, and 
when it became certain that Santa Anna would attack with a large ai-my, determined 
to meet him there. General Wool has thus the honor to have chosen the field 
upon which the American army was enabled to struggle so gloriously and victo- 
riously. 

General Taylor was at Saltillo on the morning of the 22d, and the command 
of the army fell upon General Wool, as next in rank. He accordingly ordered 
the advance from camp to the field, and disposed the army in its first order of 
battle. Previous to the commencement of the fight, however, General Taylor ar- 
rived, and General Wool again took the command of his own division. But on 
the night of the 22d, by Taylor's return to Saltillo, General Wool was again left 
in command of tlie army, and retained the command for a part of the next day, 
when the battle was fought. Of the small army in the field on the 22d, General 
Taylor took with him to Saltillo, a squadron of dragoons, and Colonel Davis's regi- 
ment of Mississippi riflemen. General Wool was thus left with four thousand two 



18 



NOTABLE MEN. 



hundred men; and with this small force he held Santa Anna's army of twenty 
thousand in check until General Taylor came up and assumed the command. For 
"gallant and meritorious conduct" in this battle, General "Wool received the brevet 
of Major-General in May, 1848. 

Upon the close of the Mexican war. General "Wool was assigned to the com- 
mand in the Eastern Military Department of the United States, and this position he 
held until some time after the present war broke out. Previous to the recent crea- 
tion of several new departments, his command embraced the states of South Caro- 
lina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, and Mississippi. 

When the trcasonalilc agitation began in South Carolina, General "Wool urged 
strongly the support of Major Anderson in Fort Sumter, and as early as December, 
1860, declared that the surrender of that post would put two hundred thousand 
men in arms in defence of the Union. During the same month he wrote: "Before 
South Carolina can get out of the jurisdiction or control of the United States, a re- 
construction of the constitution must be had, or civil war ensue." * * * He 
also declared himself as, " now and forever in favor of the Union, its preservation, 
and the rigid maintenance of the rights and interests of the states, individually 
as well as collectively," and in a letter to General Cass he expressed the desire 
that " the President would command his services" if he could be of any aid. 

Immediately after the surrender of Fort Sumter, one of those great Union dem- 
onstrations that were made all over the country was made at Troy, N. Y., and a gi-eat 
concourse of citizens adjourned from their place of meeting to the house of General 
"Wool, who there addressed them, and in the course of his remarks used these 
words : "I have fought under the stars and stripes that were carried in triumph by 
"Washington, and under which Jackson closed the second war for independence at 
New Orleans in a halo of glory. Will you permit that flag to be desecrated, and 
trampled in the dust by traitors now? Will you permit our noble government to 
be destroyed by rebels, in order that they may advance their schemes of political 
ambition, and extend the area of slavery? No indeed, it cannot be done. The 
spirit of the age forbids it. Humanity and manhood, and the sentiments of the 
civilized world forbid it. My friends, that flag must be lifted up from the dust 
into which it has been trampled, placed in its proper position, and again set float- 
ing in triumph to the breeze. I pledge you my heart my hand, all my energies, 
to the cause." 

Yet desjjite this known devotion to the cause, and the general's great experience 
and capacity as an ofiicer, he was, at a time when the country's greatest need was 
experienced and able officers, kept for several months, through some unaccountable 
cause at the war department, in virtual retirement at Troy ; and assured that it 
was done "for the benefit of his health," though he publicly declared that his 
health had never been better. 



JOHN ELLIS WOOL. 19 

Great dissatisfaction with tlie course of the government in this matter was pub- 
licly expressed through the newspapers and otherwise, and at length, August 12th, 
1861, the vctei-an received from the war department the order to proceed to Fortress 
Monroe, and take command of the forces there. On his way thither he arrived in 
New York, August 15th, and that night was serenaded at his hotel. In response 
to the calls of the assembled multitude, he appeared upon the balcony and spoke 
as follows : 

"Fellow-citizens: I thank you for this unexpected honor. Nothing is more 
gratifying to a soldier's feelings than the good opinion of his fellow-citizens. I do 
not, however, regard it merely as a compliment personal to myself, but on behalf 
of my country, my bleeding country, which is now contending for the most precious 
of rights. But yesterday we were a great people, commanding the admiration of the 
world, with an empire extending from the frozen regions of the north to the tropical 
regions of the south, and with a population of more than thirty-one millions, en- 
joying a prosperity unparalleled in the history of nations. Every city and hamlet 
was growing rich, and none so much so as those at the South. But this is not so 
to-day. And for what reason ? For nothing under God's heavens but because the 
South wants to extend the area of slavery. Nothing else but that. The only ques- 
tion with you is, whether you will support free speech, free government, free suffrage, 
or extend the area of slavery. This was the happiest country on the face of the 
globe a few months since, with a government more kind than any other in existence, 
where man could walk abroad in his own majesty, and none to make him afraid. 
Never sacrifice that government, but maintain it to the last. I thank you, gentlemen, 
for the honor you have done me." 

After several patriotic airs were given, another pause was made in the music, 
cries were renewed for the appearance of General Wool, and he came forward and 
said : — 

"Gentlemen, a few words more: though I am too hoarse to speak, I have only 
to say to you, let us have liberty and union, the whole Union, and nothing but the 
Union now and forever. Good night." 

General Wool reached Fortress Monroe two days later, and assumed command 
of the army assembled there. The force was mostly made up of volunteers, and 
had since the war began been under the command of Major-Goneral Butler. General 
Wool immediately began the institution of a more j^erfect and thorough discijJine, 
and, by holding every colonel and line officer responsible not only for the good con- 
duct but for the efficiency of their respective commands ; by exacting specific reports 
fronj them of every thing ; by insisting upon their being pei'sonally acquainted with 
the facts they state ; and by the infusion of good activity into every branch of the 
service, he is rapidly fitting the men of his command for any emergency. 




HorL. Win .11. S E \Vj\li D 



WILLIAM HENRY SEWARD. 

WILLIAM HENRY SEWARD was born in the town of Florida, Orange 
county, New York, May 16tb, 1801. He was the son of Dr. Samuel 
S. Seward of that place; a gentleman who held the office of county judge in 
Orange for seventeen years, and who was distinguished for more than ordinary 
business ability, and for jiractical philanthropy. From oliiklhood the son ex- 
hibited a love of knowledge, and an earnest inclination and taste for study. 
Books were his favorite companions, and he ran away — to school. When nine 
years of age, he was sent to Farmers' Hall Acadtmy, at Goshen, in Orange 
county. There, and at an academy subsequently established in his nati\-e 
town, he pursued his studies until his fifteenth year, when he entered Union 
College, at Schenectady. "Thin, pale, sandy- visaged," as he is said to have 
been, there was perhaps no great promise in his appearance, for he was per- 
suaded to enter the sophomore class, though upon the examination he was 
found qualified for the junior. His favorite studies in college were rhetoric, 
moral philosophy, and the ancient classics. In the year 1819, when eighteen 
years of age, and while in the senior class, he withdrew from college for 
about a year, six months of which were passed as a teacher at the South. 
Slavery was not altogether strange to him, for he had seen some remnant oi 
it in his native state, and even his own nurse had been a negro slave ; yet 
his experience of life at the South tended to confirm and deepen a natural 
hostility to that form of opjiression. Seward returned to his college, and 
graduated with high honors. He was one of three commencement orators 
chosen by the college society to which he belonged, and the subject of his 
oration was, "The Integrity of the American Union." Thus, before he had 
attained the age of manhood, he felt his way instinctively to that cause which 
was to employ the ripened abilities of his later life. 

Soon after his graduation, Mr. Seward entered the office of John Anthon, 
in New York city, as a law student; completed his preparation with John 
Duer and Ogden Hofiman, in Goshen, New York, became associated in practice 
with the latter, and was admitted to the bar of the Supreme Court in 1822. 
In January of the next year, he took up his residence in Auburn, where he 
formed a business connection with the Hon. Elijah Miller, whose youngest 



22 



NOTABLE MEN. 



daughter he married in 182-1. By severe imhistry lie soon became possessed 
of an extensive and successful practice. He gave also considerable attention 
to politics, and as his flither had been an ardent Jeffersonian Democrat, his first 
prepossessions were in favor of that party ; but during the struggle incident to 
the admission of Missouri into the Union, he saw that subserviency to Southern 
influence ruled in the Democratic party, and he left it. At the same time 
he first expressed his convictions in opposition to the extension of slavery. In 
October, 182-i, he drew up the "Address of the Republican Convention of 
Cayuga County to the People,'' which was an exposure of the origin and 
designs of the Albany Eegency. General Jackson's election to the presidency 
in 1828, dissolved the national Republican party of "Western Isew York, and 
thus the only opposition left to the Regency was the anti-Masonic organization, 
and from that party Mr. Seward received the nomination to represent the 
seventh district in the State Senate. He was elected by a majority of two 
thousand votes, and took his seat in January, 1831, probably the youngest 
member that ever entered the New York Senate. Against the formidable 
power of the Jackson party and the Albany Regency, the opposition was ne- 
cessarily feeble; but young Seward fearlessly entered it, and became its ac- 
knowledged leader. He took part in all the debates ; supported the common- 
school system, the abolition of imprisonment for debt, and the melioration of 
prison discipline. He was one of the earliest friends of the Erie Railroad, and 
supported the Jackson administration in regard to Southern nullification. His 
first speech was on a militia bill, and lie then proposed to substitute for the 
general perfoi-mance of military duty, the formation of volunteer unifonned com- 
panies — substantially the system now (1862) in use in the State of New York- 
During the second session of his term, Mr. Seward spoke in favor of a reso- 
lution, which declared the necessity of a national liauk. His speech was an 
elaborate criticism of Jackson's objections to the renewal of the Bank Char- 
ter. This speech, with others of the same nature, concentrated an opposition 
in the Senate, and thus gave rise to what subsequently became known as the 
Whig part}-. In 1833 Mr. Seward visited Europe in company with his father, 
and travelled through parts of the United Kingdom, France, Holland, Ger- 
many, Switzerland, and Sardinia. From those countries he %\Tote home the 
series of letters subsequently published in the Albany Evening Journal. 

Mr. Seward was nominated in September, 1834, by the Whig State Con- 
vention, as candidate for governor of New York. But the party was imma- 
ture ; it had not yet won popular confidence, and its young candidate was de- 
feated, by the re-election of William L. Marcy. Upon the conclusion of the 
canvass, Mr. Seward resumed the practice of his profession, and in 1836 set- 
tled in Chautauque county, as the agent of the Holland Company. In 1838 



WILLIAM HENRY SEWARD. 23 

ho was again nominated for governor by the Whig party, and was elected by 
ten thousand majority. Governor Seward's administration was one of great 
mark in the history of the state. Tlie Anti-Eent Eebellion occurred, and 
was quelled ; through" the threatened trouble of the McLeod case the state, and 
with it the country, was safely brought without the loss of honor ; the Erie 
Canal was enlarged; imprisonment for debt was abolished, and every ves- 
tige of slavery removed from the statute books ; the State Lunatic Asylum was 
established; important election reforms were effected, and reforms were also 
made in ])rison discipline, in bank laws, and in^ the law courts. Governor 
Seward took ground also against the rendition of fugitives from justice in con- 
nection with slavery, and maintained his position in a correspondence with 
the Governor of Virginia, in what has since been known as the " Virginia Case." 
He declined a renomination, and upon the expiration of his term resumed 
the practice of his profession. For six years he devoted himself with great 
assiduity to business, and obtained, in addition to an extensive practice in the 
state courts, also a large and lucrative one in patent cases in the national 
courts, and was thus brought into association with the most distinguished jurists 
in the United States. During this period, he appeared in many celebrated 
cases, and very conspicuously in the case of the negro Freeman, indicted for 
the murder of the Van Nest family. He also pleaded gratuitously the case 
of John Van Zandt, before the United States Supreme Court, charged with 
aiding certain fugitives in their attempt to escape from slavery. 

In 1848 Mr. Seward earnestly supported the election of General Taylor as 
President of the United States, and canvassed in his behalf the states of 
New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Massachusetts. Connected with Taylor's 
election, a Whig majority was returned to the New York legislature, and thus 
Mr. Seward's name was brought up for the vacancy soon to occur in the United 
States Senate. There was no serious opposition ; he was elected, and took his 
seat in the thirty -first Congress. 

General Taylor's administration was opposed by the Southern members 
in the apprehension that he would adopt a decided antislavery policy. Iden- 
tified to some degree with such a policy, and very decidedly with the support 
of General Taylor's election, Mr. Seward became recognized as the foremost 
advocate of government measures ; and for a consistent resistance to the ever- 
hungry encroachments of the slave-power, he was denounced by the makers of 
public opinion as an agitator and a dangerous man. In the debate on the admis- 
sion of California, March 11th, 1850, he spoke thus: "It is true indeed that 
the national domain is ours. It is true it was acquired by the valor, and with 
the wealth of the whole nation. But we hold, nevertheless, no arbitrary power 
over it. We hold no arbitrary authority over any thing, whether acquired 



24 NOTABLE MEN. 

lawfully, or seized by usurpation. The Constitution regulates our stewardship ; 
the Constitution devotes the domain to union, to justice, to defence, to welfare, 
and to liberty. But there is a Higher Law than the Constitution, which regu- 
lates our authority over the domain, and devotes it to the same noble pur- 
poses. The territory is a part, no inconsiderable j^art, of the common her- 
itage of mankind, bestowed upon them by the Creator of the universe." While 
the law of God is here actually named as in agreement with the "noble pur- 
poses" of the Constitution — one phrase has been dragged from this passage, the 
most material interpretation given to it, and the senator made to appear before 
the world as if he had urged against the Constitution certain conscientious 
scruples and ideas of his own. How false this is all can see. Yet Senator 
Seward has thus been made the author of the phrase, "The Higher Law," which, 
in the party contests in which it has been employed, has not certainly been 
without its value. Governor Seward took part in all the more imj)ortaut de- 
bates of the Senate, and sjioke upon the compromise measures of 1850, on the 
public domain, on Hungarian affairs, ajDropos to his own resolution of wel- 
come to Kossuth, on the motion to declare the sympathy of Congress with the 
exiled Irish patriots O'Brien and Meagher, on the survey of the Arctic and 
Pacific Oceans, on the fisheries, and various other topics of national interest. 
Upon the close of his first senatorial term in 1855, Mr. Seward was re-elected, 
though persistently opposed by the " American" or " Know Nothing" party, to 
whose doctrines ho could in nowise bend; and by the Democratic party, for 
his desire to restrict slavery. Toward the election of Colonel Fremont to 
the presidency in 1856, he labored zealously and effectively, as he had also 
done for the election of General Scott in the previous canvass. In an address 
to the people of Rochester, New York, made in 1858, Mr. Seward, in I'cference 
to the collision between the two systems of labor — free and slave — in the 
United States, said: — "Shall I tell you what this collision means? They who 
think that it is accidental, unnecessary, the work of interested or fanatical agita- 
tors, and therefore ephemeral, mistake the case altogether. It is an irrepressi- 
ble conflict between opposing and enduring forces, and it means that the United 
States must and will, sooner or later, become either entirely a slaveholding 
nation, or entirely a free-labor nation." For this phrase also, " An irrepres- 
sible conflict," Mr. Seward has been not less bitterly reviled and contemned 
than for that other of the "higher law," though it contained clearly enough a 
great truth; and by a strange confusion of ideas and things, he who saw and 
gave expression to this truth, was held responsible for what he had not caused 
but only pointed out. 

In 1859 Mr. Seward made a second visit to the old world. In the pres- 
idential canvass of 1860, he supported Abraham Lincoln, and spoke in his 



WILLIAM HENRY SEWARD. 25 

behalf in nearly all the Western states. Mr. Seward's second senatorial term 
expired March 3d, 1861. Only a short time previous to its conclusion, and 
when the Southern rebellion had become fully manifest, he boldly entered the 
contest in these words : — " I avow my adherence to the Union — with my friends, 
with my party, with my state, or without either, as they may determine; in 
every event of peace or of war, with every consequence of honor, or dishonor, 
of life or death." 

Immediately after President Lincoln was officially infomicd of his elec- 
tion, he tendered the chief place in his cabinet to Mr. Seward, who accepted 
it, and entered upon his duties, as Secretary of State, March 4th, 1861- 
Since that time his course has been marked by the strictest integrity and 
patriotism, esijccially prominent in the very able and satisfactory settlement of 
the international difficulty consequent upon the capture of the rebel commis- 
sioners, Mason and Slidell. 



i*^K-^ 






NATHANIEL LYON. 

NATHANIEL LYON was born at Ashford, Windham county, Connec- 
ticut, in tbe month of June, 1819. He was the son of Amasa Lyon, a 
farmer. He entered the United States Military Academy at West Point, July 
1st, 1837; was graduated in 18-±1, and appointed a second-lieutenant in the 
second regiment of infantry. He served in Florida, in the latter part of the 
Seminole War, was subsequently stationed for several years at different posts 
on the Western frontier, and was promoted, in February, 1847, to be first-lieu- 
tenant. Upon the commencement of the war with Mexico, Lieutenant Lyon 
was ordered to active service in that country. He joined General Taylor at 
Monterey, and accompanied his regiment when it was detached from the com- 
mand of General Taylor to that of General Scott. He served at the bombard- 
ment of Vera Cruz, and in the battle of Cerro Gordo. In the battles of Contre- 
ras and Churubusco, he commanded his company, and in the report of the ofiBcer 
who led the regiment on that day was recommended to the special notice of the 
brigade commander. He also participated in the capture of the city of Mexico, 
and was wounded by a musket-ball in the assault on the Belen gate. For "gal- 
lant and meritorious conduct" in the battles of Contreras and Churubusco he re- 
ceived, in August, 18i8, the brevet of Captain. 

When the war with Mexico was ended, Lyon was ordered to California. He 
reached that country soon after its acquisition by the United Stixtes, and remain- 
ed there several years, chiefly employed against the Indians. The full rank of 
Captain was conferred upon him June 11th, 1851. From California, Captain Lyon 
was again ordered to the Western frontier, and seiwed in Kansas and Nebraska 
in the height of the political troubles there. While upon this duty he took great 
interest in the various questions whicli divided the people, and became strongly 
opposed to the position of the Democratic party, though previously he had 
always believed and acted with it. Several articles written by him during the 
summer and fall of 1860, and published in a Kansas newspaper, express his 
hope for the country in the election of the Republican candidate for President 
in the pending canvass. These articles are written with manly vigor, and in- 
dicate in every line an earnest patri(jt and a bold, energetic thinker. 

Captain Lyon was the United States officer in command of the arsenal at St. 



28 , NOTABLE MEN . 

Louis, Missouri, wlieu, on May Otb, 18(51, the police commissioners of that city 
formally cleuiauded the removal of the United States soldiers from all jilaees oc- 
cupied by them outside the arsenal grounds. Captain Lyon declined comjiliance 
with the demand, and in reply to the charge of the commissioners, that such 
occupancy was in derogation of the constitution and laws of the United States, 
required to know what provisions of the constitution and what laws it violated. 
Thus rcbulfed, the eonrmissioners referred the matter to the governor and legis- 
lature of the state. Not long before, the governor of Missouri had authorized 
the formation of camps of instruction in various parts of the state, and on May 
■Ith sucli a camp had been formed under the supervision of General Frost at 
Lindell's Grove, near St. Louis. Taken with the action of the commissioners 
and tlie general tendency of aftairs, Cajttain Lyon regarded the concentration 
of this force near him as directly hostile, and on May 10th, suddenly surrounded 
the camp known as Gamp Jackson, with a large force of tlic state " Home 
(iuards," the then newly organized volunteer regiments under Blaii- and Siegel, 
and twenty-three pieces of artillery, planted his guns on the heights around the 
camji, and sent in to General Frost the following letter : 

" Headquarters V. S. Troops, 

St. Lotns, Mo., May lOM, 1881. 

" Gen. Yi. M. Frost, commanding Camp Jackson : 

'• Sir : — Your command is regarded as evidently hostile toward the govern- 
ment of the United States. It is for the most part made up of those secessionists 
who June openly avowed their hostility to the general government, and have 
been ])lotting at the seizure of its property and the overthrow of its authority. 
You are oj)enly in communication with tlie so-caUed Southern Confederacy, which 
is now at war with the United States, and you are receiving at your camp from 
the sail! confederacy and under its flag, large supplies of the material of war, 
most of which is known to be the property of the United States. These extra- 
ordinary preparations plainly indicate none other than the well-known purpose of 
the governor of this state, under whose orders you are acting, and whose pur- 
pose, recently connnunieated to the legislature, has Just been responded to by 
that body in the most unparalleled legislation, having in direct view hostilities to 
the general government and co-operation with its enemies. 

" In view of these considerations, and of your failure to disperse in obedience to 
tlic jiroclamation of the President, and of tlie eminent necessities of state policy 
and welfare, and the obligations imposed upon me by instructions from Wash- 
ington, it is my duty to demand, and I do liereby demand of you. an immediate 
."surrender <if your eonnnand, with no otlier conditions than that all pei>!ons sur- 
rciuU'rina- under this demand shall be hunianclv and kindlv trcatcil. Believing 



NATHANIEL LYUN. 29 

myself prepared lo culbrec tliis denuuid, one li:dl-huur'.s time, hclbre doing so, 
will be allowed for your compliance therew^ith. 

" Very respectfully your obedient servant, 

" N. Lyon, Capt. 2d Infantry, commanding troops." 

General Frost, upon consultation with his subordinate officers, found his 
command unable to resist the force of General Lyon, and he accordingly sur- 
rendered his whole command prisoners of war. This (puck and severe blow at 
rebellion in Missi.iui'i awakened great joy in the hearts of all the Union men in 
that state, and when, four days later. General Harney arrived at St. Louis and 
assumed the command there, Cai)tain Lyon was elected to the command of the 
first brigade of Missouri volunteers. On May loth, he effected the occujiation of 
Potosi, wliencc a body of rebels was driven, and also caused in rapid succession 
several important seizures of war material in various parts of the state. No other 
United States officer exhibited equal activity in the discharge of his duty. 

By agreement with General Price of Missouri, General Ilarney committed 
himself to a course of inaction, and was removed, and General Lyon was thus 
left in command of the department. May 31st. But Harney's agreement with 
General Price had contemplated the disbandmcnt of the state troops in arms 
upon the governor's requisition; they refused to disband, and the governor 
declai'cd that the interests and sympathies of Missouri were identical with 
those of the slaveholding states, and that they necessarily united her destiny 
with theirs, and the legislature jDassed a military bill, which General Lyon 
pronounced "so offensive to all peaceable inhabitants, and so palpably un- 
constitutional, that it could be accepted by those only who were to conform 
to its extraordinary provisions for the purpose of cffi2cting their cherished ob- 
ject—the disruption of the Federal government." Lyon therefore announced 
to the })eople, by proclamation, that his duty required him to act against the 
so-called state forces, and he accordingly moved from St. Louis, June 17th, toward 
Jefferson City, with a force of the Missouri Home Guard Volunteers, and some 
United States troops. Governor Jackson, upon Lyon's approach, endeavored 
to impede his march by the destruction of Moreau bridge, abandoned Jefferson 
City, burning the bridges behind him, and retreated to Booneville. Lyon pur- 
sued in boats up the Missouri river, and on the same day landed four miles be- 
low Booneville, found the rebels posted in the road near that place, immediately 
opened fire upon them, and drove them from their position. Tlu-y fell back and 
formed again in the woods, whence they kept up a sharp fire iipon the national 
forces. General Lyon then ordered a feigned retreat, and when the rebels were 
well drawn from their cover in |iursnit, he opened upon theni a severe fire of ar- 
tillery and musketry, and they wore dispersed in complete nmt. Lyon's tbrce 



30 NOTABLE MEN. 

was about two thousand, and bis loss was very small. The rebel force was about 
four thousand, and their loss in killed and wounded was nearly one hundred. A 
great many of their men were made prisoners. General Lyon tlien issued a procla- 
mation from Boonevillc, in which, after a statement of the facts in relation to the 
battle, he said : " I hereby give notice to the people of this state, that I shall 
scrupulously avoid all interference with the business, right, and property of every 
description recognized by the laws of the state, and belonging to law-abiding 
citizens. But it is equally my duty to maintain the paramount authority of the 
United States with such force as I have at my command, which will be retained 
only so long as opposition makes it necessary, and that it is my wish, and shall be 
my purpose, to visit any unavoidable rigor arising in this issue upon those only 
who provoke it.'' 

General McCulloch, with a large force, was at this time in the south- 
western part of the state, and was soon joined by General Price with some por- 
tion of the Missouri rebels, and subsecpiently by Parsons and General Eains. 
Lvon left Booneville to march against them July 8d. His small force swelled 
as he advanced, and when he reached Springfield, July 20th, he had under 
his command ten thousand men ; but this force had again decreased to six 
thousand by August 1st. On that day at five P. M., General Lyon marched to 
look for the rebels, who were said to be in motion toward Springfield, and 
not finding them, bivouacked ten miles south of the town. Early the next 
day the march was resumed, and about noon, at a place called Dug Spring, the 
rebels were reported in sight. A halt was ordered, and while a reconnoissance was 
made, two companies of regular infantry were thrown forward as skirmishers, 
supported by a company of cavalry. This force encountered a body of about 
five hundred rebels, and a warm fire was exchanged. The national infantry was 
hard pressed, when this advanced body of the rebels was entirely scattered by a 
brilliant charge of the cavalry. The rebels rallied, however, engaged theinfantiy 
again, and liaving received support fonned a line to advance, but at this juncture 
Captain Totten's artillery was brought to bear, and after a few discharges scattered 
them for the day. Next morning, August 3d, the march was continued six miles 
further, but the enemy made no stand, and, unable to bring on a general action, 
and being out of provisions, and with many of his men ill, Lyon marched his 
force back to Springfield, which he reached August 5th. Generals McCulloch, 
Price, Rains, and Colonel Parsons, were then known to be in motion toward Spring- 
field with a combined force variously reported at eight, twenty, and twenty-four 
thousand men, well-armed and effective. They reached Wilsoivs Creek, ten miles 
south-west of Sjiringfickl, August 6th, and encamped there. General Lyon, thus 
vastly ontnumbenMl. and left without reinforcements, saw 1 mt little hope for success, 
and a council of his ofiicers advised the aliandonmcnt of Springfield and a fur- 



NATHANIEL LYON. 31 

ther retreat: he determined, however, to attack the rebels in tlieir camp, and for 
that i)iirpose marched from Springfield on the 9th, at sunset, with but little over 
five thousand men. His force was disposed in two columns. The right or main 
column comprised four regiments and a battalion of volunteers, five companies 
of regular infantry, one company of artillery recruits, and two batteries of artil- 
l(>ry, and was commanded by General Lyon in person. The left column was com- 
manded by Colonel Siegel, and was made up of two battalions of volunteers and 
six field-pieces. The rebel camp stretched along Wilson's Creek for three miles, 
and it was intended that the two columns should attack it at nearly opposite ex- 
tremities. Lyon's column encountered the rebel pickets near the northern end of 
their camp at five p. M., and one of his volunteer regiments was soon warmly 
engaged with the rebel infiiutry, whom they drove from an eminence, on which the 
national artillery was immediately posted and opened fire. Eepeated attempts 
of the rebels to carry this position were repulsed, and the battle merged into this 
endeavor on the part of the rebels, until Siegel made his attack in the rear and 
fired their baggage train, when they desisted from their attempt against the bat- 
teries and the battle was virtually relinquished. 

From the first attack General Lyon had actively assisted and encouraged his 
men where the fight was thickest, and was thrice wounded. Near nine A. M., 
when the enemy was about to make one of his several attempts against Tottcn's 
battery, the first Iowa regiment was brought up to relieve, in its support, the 
Kansas first and second. This regiment had lost its colonel, and when Lyon 
ordered it to prepare to repel the enemy with the bayonet, the men called upon 
him to lead them. He had been standing by his horse, but now mounted to 
lead the charge, and gave the word. The rebels did not stand, but delivered 
their fire and broke. General Lyon was struck by a rifle-ball in the breast. 
He fell into the arms of his body-servant and expired almost immediately. 
His fall was not generally observed, and the battle continued for several hours 
after it. 

Four months after General Lyon's death, on the 20th December, 1861, the 
following resolution was introduced into the United States Senate from the 
House of Eepresentatives, and unanimously concurred in : 

" Resolved, by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of 
America in Congress assembled, That Congress deems it just and proper to enter 
upon its records a recognition of the eminent and patriotic services of the late 
Brigadier-General Nathaniel Lyon. The country to whose service he devoted 
his life will guard and presei-ve his fame as a part of its own gloiy. Second, 
That the thanks of Congress are hereby given to the brave officers and soldiers 
who, under the command of the late General Lyon, sustained the honor of the 
flag, and achieved victory against overwhelming numbers at the battle of Spring- 



32 NOTABLE MEN. 

field, in Missouri ; and that, in order to commemorate an event so honorable to 
the country and to themselves, it is ordered that each regiment engaged shall 
be authorized to bear upon its colors the word ' Springfield,' embroidered in 
letters of gold. And the President of the United States is hereVjy requested 
to cause these resolutions to be read at the head of every regiment in the army 
of the! United States." 

Previous to its adoption, however, Senator Poraeroy, of Kansas, delivered 
an eloquent tribute to the general's memory as follows : 

" Mr. President : The resolutions which have just been read to the Senate were 
introduced to the House of Eepresentatives by the distinguished member from 
St. Louis, and passed the House very unanimously. I trust they will in like 
manner pass the Senate. But to me there is one reason why they should re- 
ceive at least a passing notice. The state of Kansas was largely interested in 
that battle at Wilson's Creek, near Springfield, and the country and mankind 
have a large interest in the fame of the immortal Lyon, who fell in that battle. 
Such a man and such a general is not often found, and very rarely combined in 
one person. Perhaps I may be pardoned here for saying that I had the pleasure 
of a personal acquaintance with General Lyon for years ; and it was an acquaint- 
ance formed and matured under the most impressive circumstances. The early 
struggles for the freedom of our own state were not unlike in their nature the 
present struggles of the nation. The same questions, to a great extent, entered 
into the one that now convulse the other. The same interests, passions, and 
barbarity, so disgraceful to our age and humanity, entered as largely into that 
struggle as in the present. 

" General Lyon, whose deeds and fame now belong to the whole country, was 
then Captain Lyon, of the regular army, stationed at Fort Riley, in Kansas. 
He had for ten years served the country in that capacity, and without promo- 
tion. He was as true a soldier as ever stood in the line of battle ; a sagacious 
officer, strict in habit and discipline, and an honest man. 

" His attention to me, on an occasion of great personal fatigue and exposure — 
taking me to his quai-ters, welcoming me to all his comforts, and then loaning 
me his own horse, fresh and strong, and taking in charge mine exhausted and 
worn, were acts of generosity and kindness that I shall never forget. The ele- 
ments of a firiend.ship cemented by unity of sentiment and principle, in an hour 
of great extremity, are the most enduring attachments of this life. 

" As Captain Lyon, he sympathized with the free state men of Kanisas, 
espoused their cause, and vindicated their rights in the presence of supci'ior 
army officers and government appointees, who were, even there, as false to their 
country, to freedom, and to God, as secession itself He was then, as always, 
an earnest man, true among the false, faithful among the faithless, devotedlv' 



X A Til AN IK L LYOK. 33 

attached to the rnion that he loved, the eoustitutioii tljat lie vindicated, and the 
flag of his country for which he died. 

" Comparisons are odious, and I hesitate to draw them. Still, amidst the 
general inactivity so prevalent on the Potomac, and so discouraging to hve men, 
it is refreshing to notice that when the order was for Captain Lyon to take and 
capture General Frost's command at Camp Jackson, the ink was scarcely dry on 
the order before that work was accomplished. 

" The 10th day of May will be forever memorable in St. Louis as a day when 
one^ decisive blow, struck by one decided officer, forever freed that city from 
subjection to the rebellion. And there she remains to-day a proud monument, 
her editices standing in towering magnificence, vindicating that policy, and safe 
amidst surrounding desolation. 

"One Friday morning in June kst, Claib. Jackson, the so-called governor of 
Missouri, issued his proclamation, declaring war against the United States forces 
in Missouri. That very afternoon, before the sun went down. General Lyon 
commenced moving his little army of two thousand seven liundred men upon 
steamboats, at St. Louis, and was soon under way for Jefferson City, the capital. 
On the following Sabbath evening, he took possession quietly of that capital. 
The rebels, governor, and offtcers, and soldiers, had fled, burning bridges, and 
spreading destruction in their train. Before Monday morning, he commenced 
moving a portion of that little invincible army to Booneville, fifty miles farther 
up, where he engaged the enemy and dispersed them, taking the city. Thus, I 
say, it is refreshing to see that there was one general who could move his army 
three hundred miles in three successive days, and have a battle and a \dctory ! 
General Lyon moved south from Booneville toward Springfield, in the wake of 
the fleeing rebels, who were retreating into Arkansas. After several successful 
skirmishes about Springfield, restoring order and quiet, he halted there for 
reinforcements. On his way there, he was joined by one regiment from Iowa 
and two from Kansas. 

" And now may I be allowed to pause in my argument a moment to say that 
these two regiments were only the first generous offerings of our young state 
to the cause of the country? But the flower and pride of our young state 
were in them. These were of the kind of men who spring siiontaneously 
to their arms in an hour of danger. They mustered in as infantry in the 
month of June, and were ordered immediately into Missouri. Thank God 
there were no wretched traitors in Kansas left unhung to rise up against 
their country, and to seek the overthrow of the government. So our troops 
were ordered into Missouri— many of them without one day's notice. Tlie 
first day's march of one regiment was forty-five miles in twenty-two succes- 
sive hours, without baggage-wagons or ambulances. And before they could 



34 X () T A I! I, E ME N . 

!je providetl with clotliing ov shoes, they were fullered iniward and still onward 
into Missouri ; ;iiid wlien they had joined (rcneral Lyon at Springfield, they had 
marched over throe hundred iiiiles; and one of the regiments had only seven 
l)aggage- wagons ! A pai't of the Kansas and Iowa regiments, under an order 
from General Sweeney, were marched in two days from Springfield to Forsyth, 
sixty miles, and had a battle ; and after disj^ersing the reliels, returned to Spring- 
field in two and a half days : and during this unparalleled marching, over two 
hundred of these bravo men were entirely ch'stitute of shoes. 

"But tlie memorable day about which cluster all the interests of that south- 
western campaign was the 10th day of August, 1861. Upon the evening of the 
9th, as darkness quietly settled down into the valleys, and light lingered blush- 
ingly upon the hill tojis, this little army of five and a half thousand men set out 
to meet twenty-five thousand and engage them in conflict. They marched by 
two difterent routes all night, and at daylireak came upon the enemy encamped 
upon Wilson's Creek. Imni idiately, without waiting on points of etiquette, 
Greneral Lyon formed the line of battle. And here began, at five o'clock in the 
morning, the conflict of arms — more terrible and destructive, according to num- 
bers, than ever engaged men on this continent before. From the beginning to 
the close, for six and a half hours, the firing was incessant and terrific. At half- 
past ten o'clock the man of all men there — the general of all generals in this war 
— fell at the head of one of our regiments, leading them gloriously onward to 
victory. He placeii himself there in a moment, in response to the call of these 
men as unconquerable as himself. General Lyon had before, tliat day, been twice 
woianded, and liad one horse shot under him. He resisted all entreaties for 
refreshments, willing to hazard every thing himself, anxious oidy for his men 
and their cause. He neither faltered nor complained, until the fatal shaft entered 
the life fountain, and the ' golden bowl was liroken.' He thus sunk quietly to 
rest, amidst the din of battle and the smoke of the contest — the Warren of this 
war. The Imttle went on, though its leader had fallen. Few of either officers 
or men knew what had occurred. The enemy being repulsed, returned with 
fresh regiments, again and again, but i-eturned only to rc-treat in confusion, 
leaving their trail strewn with the fallen. Our troops advanced and took posses- 
sion of the field. The rebels, in fear, now burned their own baa'sase-wagons. 
Voliimcs of smoke rolled up from every side of the battle-field, and concentrat- 
ing above them, hung the heavens in a drapery of mourning. The rebels were 
receding, and the firing ceased altogether. * * * * * 

'' Thus ended the 10th day of August, 1861 ; evening shadows, cooling 
the heat of both sun and fir(>; our troops marched regularly to camp. And I 
now say, in contradiction to much that has been written and .said, that that 
battle was a trimiiph. It was a costly one : nevertheless a victory. What other 



NATHANIEL LYON. 35 

battle-field was ever won more triumphantly? I do not allow the fact that there 
were not reinforcements on liand soffieient to hold that whole country, to detract 
from the Ijrilliant triumph of our arms that day. It was a battle of five thousand 
five hundred men against twenty-five thousand ; and a victory of the few over 
the many; showing again that 

•• ' Thrieo armed is lie wlio hath his quarrel just.' 

"The hero of that battle sleeps beside other graves, in his dear native 
valley. He has been literally 'gathered to his fathers.' There need be no 
monument of marble or granite f,>r him. All the way from St. Louis to Connec- 
ticut liis remains were honored by tributes of respect from a grateful people. 
I had the melancholy pleasure of seeing the almost spontaneous gathering of his 
okl friends at Hartford. They honored suitably the noble dead. In that they 
lionored themselves. From Hartford to Eastford, where he now sleeps, the way 
was all marked by tokens that were becoming to a returning conqueror. Tlie 
dear old people at home have garnered up his memory ; it shall be to them as 



endearing as liberty and life." 










I 




Licui , LfnVTLL PT^TKAM 




zXWyn^ 



WILLIAM LOWELL PUTNAM. 

WILLIAM LOWELL PUTNAM was bora in Boston, Massachusetts, on 
tljc 9th day of July, 1840. He fell, mortally wounded, at the battle of 
Ball's Bluff, on the 21st of October, 1861, and died the following day. 

Seven years of his short life were passed in Europe. We can in no other 
way give, in a small compass, so just an impression of what he was, and what 
were his leading tastes and pursuits during the period of his absence from his 
own country, as by extracting the following pages from the memoir recently 
published in France by Dr. Guepin, of Nantes: 

" Lowell Putnam was brought at eleven years old to Europe for his educa- 
tion. Two years in a school at Paris, journeys in France and in other countries, 
prolonged residence in Paris and in some of the principal cities of Germany and 
Italy — these were the means employed to give him a knowledge of languages, 
and to enable him, at the same time, to acquaint himself with the history and 
works of art of the ancients and moderns. 

" Lowell Putnam was thirteen years old when we saw him for the first time. 
He was then charming in person, full of life and movement, and of so remark- 
able a loyalty that he did not think falsehood possible. The vivacity of his first 
emotions, the expression of his joys, had something very original. But ho be- 
came calm, he was all eye and ear, when he found himself in the presence of 
serious men, and especially of eminent writers. 

" Michelet was then at Nantes, studying on the spot the civil wars of which 
Brittany and La Vendee were the theatre in 1790-1795. William was strongly 
moved by the conversation of this great painter, who has thrown such vivid 
lights on the most important pages of our history. He found his own vocation 
revealed to him. 

" We made a tour through Brittany with William and his parents. During 
the whole excursion, he inspired us with the liveliest interest. The picturesque 
and the reason of things interested him in turn. One asked one's self, which 
would, at last, take the ascendency in him, love of art or the spirit of investiga- 
tion, imagination or philosophy. This child was so interesting, his young intel- 
lect was so eager, that we could not resist the desire of planting in it some germs 
for his future of serious study. We became his cicerone. We did not let any 



38 XGT ABLE MEN. 

thing pass, whether of Druidisni, of the events of the Reformation, of the more 
recent events of the Revolution, without telling him what we knew about it. 
We also showed him whatever there was to interest him in the department 
of art. 

" A \uixr later, Ltiwell Putnam passed some montlis at Nantes, already giv- 
ing promise of future eminence by his brilliant intellect and firm will. On this 
second visit he asked us for more detailed explanations of all that his journey 
of the preceding year had left in his memory. 

" Lowell Putnam left France for Germany ^-ery well 2:)repared — already 
knowing several languages, and acquainted with the origin of the European 
peoples and their migrations. His studies in Germany were serious, as also in 
Italy. Tlie letters which he wrote to us from this latter countiy, upon the 
Etruscans, upon Rome and the Campagna, upon Naples and the devotion paid 
to Saint Januarius, were very much beyond his years. He could not live in 
Italy, which was then groaning under the yoke, without being continually struck 
by the ignorance, the misery, and tlic superstitious prejudices, engendered by 
despotism ; and as often his mind necessarily reverted to the little republic of 
Massachusetts. 

" lie returned to us in October, 1857, a young poet, a serious thinker, under 
the form of a tall, liandsome youth, as modest and reserved in society, as firm 
and courageous in the practice of his duties. His dream for the future had not 
changed : it was still that of serving the interests of his country and of humanity 
as historian. That nothing might interfere with the fulfilment of his desires, he 
determined, in the first place, to fortify his constitution. He drank only water, 
took every day a very long walk, went to bed betimes, and rose very early. 
The cold was rude in the winter of that year, but he never allowed a fire to be 
made in his room; if he suffered too much from the temperature, he went out to 
skate. He was fully aware that a necessity for comforts takes from our physical 
and moral liberty ; that the factitious wants of a too refined civilization are the 
evil of our age. And besides, as he had studied the Etruscans in Etruria, so 
he desired to study Egypt and India in their own monuments. For this, long 
voyages and journeys were necessary, requiring great physical strength, and the 
habit of living on little. 

'•physiology and jurisprudence were the necessary comjilement of his stud- 
ies. Postponing to a later period the study of American and of comparative 
legislation, he profited by his residence in France to initiate himself into the 
science of life. Never, in our twenty years of professorship in the School of 
Medicine at Nantes, have we met with a more perceptive or a more sagacious 
intellect 

■' Very exact in following the courses of our Superior School of Science and 



WILLIAM LOWELL PUTNAM. 39 

Letters, he licanl with especial interest the leetun-s on history and literature, 

although they did not always fully correspond to his desires 

"While in the west of France, Lowell Putnam visited the principal 1. attic 
fields of the wars of La Vendee. He talked with some of the old witnesses of 
the events of that time, and was ardent in searching out the truth. 

" Before returning to Paris and thence to America, he nia<le a last excursion 
to La Eoehelle. He thought this pilgrimage due to those noble martyrs of an- 
other time who have revived, so great and so worthy, in their writings and even 
in their familiar letters. An ardent flxith inspired their language and their acts, 
but this vivifying faith was united to a i)rofound i-espcct for human reason. 

"A few days after his arrival in Paris, Lowell Putnam wrote to us. Per- 
suaded that much is to be learned from the lessons of persons whose opinions arc 
opposed to ours, he had begun to attend several courses of lectures in which 
views were maintained of a different tendency from his own : among others, the 
lectures of M. Flourens. In the autumn of the same year (1858), he left France 
lor the United States. 

"The pi'incipal features of the character of this young man were very 
marked. What we chiefly observed and esteemed in him was his firm will to gov- 
ern his impulsiveness, to bring all bis impressions under the control of his rational 
faculties before taking a determination and acting upon it. The duties which 
had been given him by nature and those which arose from his projects for the 
future, seemed to occupy his life. Very generous, very devoted, always ready 
to succor the unfortunate, whoever they might be, he yet knew how to be on his 
guard against himself. He especially dreaded being drawn out of the line he 
had marked for himself. But when a desire agitated him, when it was found m 
accordance with his duties, when Eeason said to him, 'Forward !' there was then 
in him an ardor impossible to subdue. The moral and the rational faculties had 
in liini a complete ascendency over the lower. He had a horror of blood and of 
war, and despised those great vanities which fill the trumpet of false glory. His 
modesty and his reserve overiooked raillery addressed to his own person, but 
he was easily drawn out of his habitual calm by an attack on the great laws of 
morality, on the men who have made glorious sacrifices for humanity, or on the 
manners and institutions of his country. The confusion, often malicious, which 
some of the Paris journals constantly made between the slaveholding and the 
free states of the great American confederation, made him suffer keenly." 

After his return from Europe, Lowell Putnam set himself to acquiring a 
knowledge of his own land with the same zeal and the same method with which 
he had studied foreign countries. He listened to its leading orators; visited its 
battle-fields and other scenes of historical interest: delighted liimsclf with its 
grand or beautiful scenery. He also applied himself to several branches of 



iO NOTABLE MEN. 

instruction whicli lie luid bitbei'to po.st|K)ncd i'or others more conveuiently culti- 
vated in Europe. After two years thu.s spent in alternate study and travel, he 
began the reading of law. and, in March, 1861. V)ecame a student in the Cam- 
bridge Law School. 

In the mean time he had continued to correspond with his friends in France. 
We quote, once more from Dr. Guepin : 

" Soon after his return from America we received a long letter from him, 
in which he enlarged with great pleasure on the number and the nature of the 
public lectures in Boston, and the large audiences that attended them. He was 
happy to be able to tell us with how much more esteem and considerjition his 
country treated men of learning than old Europe, even than France herself. .... 

" Another letter gave us his travelling impressions. We received a third 
from Kentucky, whose caves he had just been visiting. It was accompanied by 
some eyeless fishes, caught in ponds which never receive any other light than 
that from the torches of visitors. His last letter but one inquired into the state 
of science as regards the nervous system. Then he remained a long time with- 
out writing. His silence surprised us, for his country was already the scene of 
grave events. We had begun to be anxious, when arrived this last letter, a 
simple note : 

"'Camp Massasoit, Readville, Awjust ith, 1861. 

" ' Dear and Revered Friend,* 

" 'I am second Lieutenant in the 20th Regiment of Massachusetts Volun- 
teei's. We are encamped a few miles from Boston. I do not think we shall 
leave for the South for thirty or forty days. When we are there, I hope to have 
time to write you long letters. 

" ' Good-bye ! Remember me to Madame Guepin, and thank her very mucli 
for M. Gharton's History of France which she has sent me. Remember me also 
to Ange. 

" 'I think very often of you and of Madame Guepin, and I .shall never for- 
get the time I passed at Nantes. 

"' Again, good-bye. Your liiend, William Lowell Putnam.' 

•'How explain this transformation? IIow had William, with his tender 
heart, been able suddenly to sacrifice all his affections and all his projects, to 
become a soldier? Nothing more simple. That which governed in him was 
sense of duty. The law was in danger ; the constitution had been violated by 
the South, and he immediately made himself the armed defender of the right, 
and of the institutions consented to and sworn to by the rebels themselves." 
* The original of this letter is in French. 



WILLIAM LOWELL PUTNAM. 41 

Oil the -itli of September, oue month after tlie date of his last letter to Dr. 
Guepin, Lowell Putnam left Camp Massasoit, with his regiment, for the South. 
In less than seven weeks from that time, his earthly career was closed. The 
beautiful mortal form was brought back to his native city. The funeral services 
were held in the West Church. On this occasion, the following address was 
made by the Rev. Dr. Bartol, pastor of this church : 

" My friends of this funeral company : You, whose still flowing blood claims 
kindred with these ashes : you, whom sympathetic sorrow has drawn to-day to 
these courts ; you, who pay the resjiect of constituted authority, the civil and 
military power of the state, and, l)y official and federal relationship, of the 
United States— not unsuitable to its object, let me say, is the tribute you all 
render. With a full heart, with an earnest soul, with a communing spirit, I join 
you in that tribute. This altar, this sanctuary, this old church, which I repre- 
sent, unites in the honor to the lifeless remains, to the living soul, of our brother. 
" But, in discharging my part of this service, I must be excused from fol- 
lowing any prescribed form. Few are even the informal words I am moved to 
utter. Little, perhaps nothing, need I say. The scene itself, with the well- 
known incidents that have produced it, speaks to you. The story of our broth- 
er's blameless life speaks. The_ devotion with which he went, and his parents 
and kindred offered him, to the strife that afflicts our land, betwixt government 
and anarchy, union and secession, freedom and slavery — speaks. Tlie humanity 
with which he rushed forward on the field to support a wounded comrade, speaks. 
The disinterestedness with which, after receiving his own mortal wound he de- 
sired others to be cared for rather than himself, speaks. The smiling calm in 
which he Ijorc his weakness and pain, speaks. Out of the hiding-place in which 
lie kept his anguish of body and mind, his patient self-denial speaks. The gen- 
tleness with which he received the angel of death as the angel of sleep to his 
pillow, speaks. All these things speak loudly of and for our brother. Thev 
speak emphatically, as the Spirit itself, to the human soul : and God speaks to 
us all, admonishing us, in all the way and warfare of our life, to imitate the 
examjDle of such fidelity to the highest laws of his being and our nature. 

" But, though I have nothing on this occasion to say as of myself, I may be 
permitted to remember another funeral,* nine months ago, in its relation to this 
in this same spot. That was of an aged man of nearly fourscore; this is of a 
youth of hardly more than one. Tlie gray hair, turning to white, lay placidlv 
on the manly beauty of that furrowed brow ; silken locks curled over this fore- 
head and about these temples. The lines of much thought and long exijerienee 
of the deepest feelings were printed all over that countenance: liow smooth and 

* Tluit of Rev. Hr. LoweU. graudfalhcr of Lieiilouant William rutiiani. 



42 NOTABLE MEN- 

fair are these cold eheeks I Amid apparent contrasts was, liowever, the same 
essential worth. The mingled benignity and resolution of that eloquent and 
liolv moutli arc repeated in the sweet firmness of these tender lips which. I looked 
at yesterday. A great company of intimate friends participated in those former 
obsequies ; while few, I suppose, of this great congregation, had the personal 
ntimacv it would have liecn an}- one's jirivilege to enjoy with this dear boy, 
just budding into manhood. Yet, cordial as was the honor offered to the aged 
minister of the church, my own venerated colleague, there is as utter absence of 
all scruple, qualification, or reserve, in that paid to the grandson as to the grand- 
father. They are associated as respects the place where their bodies have lain 
in death. As there is a God who lives, and a heaven for his filial servants, their 
spirits are already joined in the fellowship of saints in everlasting light and bliss. 

"The sword lies motionless, unwielded, here across the coffin. Amid fading 
blossoms of the garden and the field, a fairer flower within withers away. But 
something, not of the dust, which cannot be borne out on this bier, which the 
funeral jDrocession cannot marshal, nor the mighty state precede, nor the whole 
earth, whose mouth is open, soon to close again, swallow up, has escaped, beyond 
the bonds we yet wear, into the region where is liberty, unity, peace, and light, 
with no need of the sun, for the Lord God doth lighten it and the Lamb is the 
light thereof 

"'The beauty of Israel is slain upon thy high places.' Our l)rother gave 
himself, and his friends gave him, to country, to liberty, and to God. He is not 
dead. He is not lost to conntrj' and liberty and God. Country and liberty and 
God will keep his name and memory precious on earth, will keejj his soul alive 
forever and blessed in heaven. 

" God, to whom the swords and shields of the earth belong, bless to the 
cause of truth and right, not only the blood that runs in the veins of thy chil- 
dren, but that which is shed and poured out like water on the ground. We 
thank thee that, with all we mourn, there is so much we must rejoice in as long 
as we live and recollect. Help us to sec him, cut down as a plant in its bloom, 
aiul him, coming to his grave like a shock of com fully ripe in its season, alike 
and together in thy kingdom. May the short career of our brother, in obedience 
to thy will, show to us 'the wisdom which is the gray hair to man, the unspot- 
ted life which is old age,' and be sanctified to influence and usefulness as great to 
his native land and mankind as though he had filled out the allotted measure 
of threescore and ten." 

The Rev. James Freeman Clarke then gave a sketch of the life and charac- 
ter of Lowell Putnam, from which we take these extracts : 

"Born in Boston in 1840, he was educated in Europe, where he went when 
eleven years old : and where, in France, Germany, and Italy, he sliowed that he 



W I L L I A >f LOWELL PUTNAM. -43 

possessed the faculty of easily mastering languages, and where he faithfully 
studied classic and Christian antiquity and art. Under the most lovinsr guidance 
he read with joy the vivid descriptions of Virgil, while looking down from the 
hill of Posilippo, on the headland vf Misenum and the ruins of Cumte. He 
studied with diligence the remains of Etruscan art, of which, perhaps, no Ameri- 
can scholar, though he was so young, knew more. 

" Thus accomplished, he returned to his native land ; but, modest and earn- 
est, he made no display of his acquisitions, and veiy few knew that he had 
acquired any thing. When the war broke out, his conscience and heart urged 
him to go to the service of his country. His strong sense of duty overcame the 
reluctance of his parents, and they consented. A presentiment that he should 
not return alive was very strong in his mind and theirs. But he gave himself 
cheerfully, and said, in enrtire strength of purpose, tliat to die would he easy in 
such a cause. And, in the full conviction of immortality, he added : ' What is 
death, mother? It is nothing but a step in our life.' His fidelity to every duty 
gained him the respect of his superior officers; and his generous, constant inter- 
est in his companions and soldiers brought to him an unexanq)led affection. He 
realized fully that this war must enlarge the area of freedom, if it was to attain 
its true end ; and, in one of his last letters, he expressed the earnest prayer that 
it might not cease till it opened the way for universal liberty. 

" These earnest ojjinions were connected with a feeling of the wrong done to 
the African race, and an interest in its improvement. He took with him to the 
war, as a body-servant, a colored lad named George Brown, who repaid the 
kindness of Lieutenant Putnam by gratitude and faithful service. George Brown 
followed his master across the Potomac, into the battle, nursed him in his tent, 
and attended his remains back to Boston. 

"In the fatal battle a week ago, Putnam fell, as is reported, while endeav- 
oring to save a wounded companion — fell, soiled with no ignoljle dust — '7ion 
indecore pulvere sordidum.' Brought to the hospital-tent, he said to the surgeon 
wiio came to dress his wound, 'Go to some one else, to whom you can do more 
good; you cannot save me' — like Philip Sidney, giving the water to the soldiers 
who needed it more than himself. 

" Brave and beautiful child ! was it for this that you had inherited the best 
results of past culture, and had been so wisely educated and carefully trained ? 
Was it for this, to be struck-down by a ruffian's bullet, in a hopeless struggle 
against overwhelming numbers? How hard to consent to let these precious 
lives be thus wasted, apparently for naught, through the ignorance or the care- 
lessness of those whose duty it was to make due preparation before sending them 
to the field ! How can we bear it ? 

" Wc could not b?ar it, unless we believed in God. But bclievino- in God 



44 NOT A I? I, E M I-: X . 

and Christ, we can licar even tins. It is not any blind ebance. nor yet any liu- 
man follv. wliieh controls these events. All is as God wills, who knows what 
the world needs, and what we need, better than we can know it He uses the 
folly and sin of man for great ends ; and he does not allow any good and noble 
effort to 1)0 lost 

''Farewell, then, dear child, brave heart, soul of sweetness and fire! We 
shall see no more that fair, candid brow, with its sunny hair ; those sincere eyes ; 
that cheek flushed with tlie commingling roses of modesty and courage. Go, 
and join the noble group of devoted souls, our heroes and saints. Go with Ells- 
worth, protomartyr of this great cause of freedom ; go with Winthrop, poet and 
soldier, our Korner with sword and lyre; go with the chivalric Lyon, bravest of 
the brave, leader of men ; go with Baker, to whose utterance the united murmurs 
of Atlantic and Pacific Ocean gave eloquent rhythm, and whose words flowered 
so easily into heroic action. Go with our noble Massachusetts boys, in whose 
veins runs the best blood of the age. Go gladly, and sleep in peace. Those 
who love thee as much as parents ever loved child, give thee joyfully in this 
great hour of their country's need. " 

On the Sunday after the funeral. Dr. Bartol preached fi-om the text — " The 
beauty of Israel is slain on thy high places.'^ His sermon, afterward published 
under the title, "Our Sacrifices," contained a tribute to Lowell Putnam, with 
which we complete this memoir: 

" Familiar events prove that to property and happiness we must personally- 
like the Jews in old Canaan, for ourselves or those dearest to us, add the sacri- 
fice of life. To one, among many such noble and widely-commemorated sacri- 
fices, I wish, in closing, to refer, not to gratify myself or any others peculiarly 
concerned, but, through the public attention, already- fixed on it by circumstances 
of thrilling interest, for the benefit, as great as can be derived from any sermon, 
of delineating what I must consider a model of human worth. 

''William Lowell Putnam, born July 9th, 1840, lieutenant in a Massa- 
chusetts company, fell bravely fighting for his country, in the act probably of at 
once leading on his men and making a step to the relief of a wounded ofiicer, in 
the battle of Balfs Bluff, October 21st, 1861, and he died, at the age of twenty- 
one, the next day. The state that gave him birth, and to which he gave back 
honor, joined with his kindred and friends in celebrating his obsequies in this 
cliurch, last Monday, October the '28th. The coflfin lay on the same spot occu- 
])ied nine months ago, by that of Dr. Charles Lowell, his maternal grandfather. 
The corse of the soldier and hero, surmounted with the sword unwieldod and 
motionless in its scabbard, was not unworthy to succeed here that of the preacher 
and saint; for spiritual weapons were no cleaner in the hands of the first than 
carnal ones in those of the last. Striking was the contrast made bv the vouth's 



WILLIAM L O W E L L P U T X A M . 45 

silken locks and smooth, fair cheeks, cold in death, with the white hair on the 
furrowed brow that had also reposed at the shrino so long vocal with well- 
remembered tones of an eloquent and holy mouth. But there was more union 
than sepai-ation. The benignant resolution of the elder "s expression was repeated 
in the sweet firmness of the young man's lips. They seemed as near together in 
spirit as circumstantially wide apart. The two venerable names of Lowell and 
of Putnam — the eminent jurist, as beloved as he was distinguished* — were well 
united in that of the youth ; for he justiiied every supposablc law of hereditary 
descent by continuing in his temper and very look, with the minister's loving 
earnestness, the singular cordiality, the wondrous and spotless loving-kindness, 
which in his paternal grandfather's manner was ever like a warm beam of the 

sun A worthy grandchild William was. He bore out in action, in danger 

and death, every rising signal and promise of his brief but Ijcautiful life. In the 
conflict, he cared more for others' peril than for his own. He sank, from all his 
forward motion, under one mortal wound. But, while he suffered, he smiled. 
He deprecated any assistance to himself as vain ; he urged all to the work before 
them, and even forbade his soldiers to succor him. 'Do not move me,' he said to 
his friend ; ' it is your duty to leave me ; help others ; I am going to die, and 
would rather die on the field." With noble yet well-deserved support, however, 
he was borne nearly a mile to the boat at the fatal river's brink by Henry How- 
ard Sturgis, of Boston, who left him only to return to fight in his own place, 
and afterward watched h-ini like a mother in the hospital, hoping for his resto- 
ration. As he lay prostrate, knowing he could not recover, he beckoned to his 
friend to come to him, that he might praise the courage of his men in the en- 
counter, rather than to say any thing of himself With such patient composure 
he endured his anguish and weakness, probably no mortal but himself could sus- 
pect how far he was gone. He sent home the simple message of love. Brightly, 
concealing his pangs, he wore away the weary hours. Cheerfully, on the Tuesdav 
morning, which was his last on earth, he spoke to his faithful servant, George. 
He closed his eyes at length, and did not open them again — presenting, and 
perhaps knowing, no distinction between sleep and death. He ' is not dead, but 
sleepeth,' might it not have been said again? But, like the child raised by our 
Lord, he slept but a little. The greatness of his waking, who shall tell? 

" I looked often and earnestly on tliat young man's face, in the house and bv 

* Samuel rutnnm was born ITGS, nnd died 185.1. At tho bar he was particularly distinguished for 
liis knowledge of commercial law, a chivalric sense of honor and duty, and uniform amenity of manners. 
(Ju the bench of tlie Supreme Co\irt, where he served for twenty-eight years, tlie exhibition of these 
powers of mind and elements of character g.ained for him tmiversal afTection and respect; and his opin- 
ions in that branch of the law arc esteemed among the most valuable contributions to jurisprudence to ho 
found in tlie Reports of the State of Massachusetts. 



46 -NOTABLEMEN. 

the wayside; and now that I can see it in the flesh no longer, it still hangs and 
shines conspieuons in the gallery of chosen portraits in my mind. I would fain 
put into some photograph of words what it expressed, and what the likeness 
fortunately taken of him largely preserves, respecting others' testimony, while I 
render my tribute, and Llending their views with my own; for I find in all esti- 
mates of him a notable uniformity. The first impression which any one behold- 
ing him would have received, was of a certain magnanimity. The countenance 
was open, and, as from an ample doorway, the generous dh'position to meet you 
came out. There was a remarkable mixture of sweetness and independence in 
all his aspect and bearing. From his very gait and salutation you would per- 
ceive that his mind was made up, and he meant something by his glance or 
utterance ; as one who knew him said, there was character in whatever he did. I 
am not sure a discerner of spirits might not have gathered, before he elected his 
part, from his eflective carriage and fine physical develojiment, signs of a military 
taste. Yet, if the martial inclination were in him, it was combined with a strong 
aversion to take life or inflict distress. He proved once more, as it has l)een 
proved ten thoxisand times, that the brave is also the tender heart. But above 
all mortal considerations of pleasure or pain was his regard for justice and truth 
He had a rare native rectitude. lie never deviated from sincerity. If any thing 
could grieve him', or, even in his childhood, move him for a moment from the 
admirable felicity of his temper, it would be any calling in question of his word. 
Bat the sensibility in him that felt all forgave all too.; and without the sensi- 
bility that measures our forgiveness, our forgiveness is nothing worth. Beyond 
any passion, he evinced the reason in which his passion was held. Coolness in 
him covered enthusiasm ; the gravity of deep though early experience reiDressed 
the sparkles of natural humor; a heart wistful of aflection attended self-reliance i 
the modest and almost diffident was the courageous soul ; by ready concession to 
another's correctness in any debate, he curbed a mounting will ; and he suited 
the most explicit clearness of opinion to the perfect gentleman's ways. With his 
seriousness went along a keen sense of the ludicrous, by which almost every 
highly moral nature is quick to observe what is outwardly awry, as well as what 
is intrinsically wrong; but he was more apt, when he laughed, to laugh at him- 
self than at other folks. He could contend also, but never from love of conten- 
tion. Ho would fight only for a great object ; he went to the war in his countij's 
emergency, at the outset proposing to go as a private; and he intended to return 
to the study and practice of the law if he survived. If T'c survived: but no san- 
guine thought of surviving did he entertain. He had no reserves ; he was a 
devotee in arms. He ofl'ered himself as though less to slay than be slain were 
his end. No more of hero than martyr was in his mood, as in his doom. He 
throw his life in without scruple, with the ancient judging it sweet and decorous 



WILLIAM LOWELL PUTNAM. 47 

to die for one's country ; and the parental presentiment, that die lie would, was 
matched in the entire readiness for such an event with which the always fearless 
son, under no shadow of his own apprehension, marched on to the fatal fray. In 
every extremity he was self-possessed. If by one word I must mark the quality 
most prominent in his deportment, I should call it balance. Did this unquali- 
fied courage, in one extraordinarily conscious of existence, and with constitu- 
tional tenacity rooted in the present life, spring from the faith he so vividly had 
in immortality ? and did that faith in turn spring from a profoundly religious 
trust in God? I believe it ! I believe even the exuberant, vivacious, frolicsome 
boy had in him the germ, afterward to open, of all this faith and trust. Impul- 
sive, he did not act from impulse, but from that contemplation on the truth of 
the universe which told him on what impulse to proceed, and marked his way 
over the earth into the heavens. 

"Precious intellectual gifts, mostly philosophic, though with no want of 
imagination, were in our brother, so that his friend abroad, Gucpin, expected in 
him great scientific attainments; while he spoke French, German, and Italian, in 
the style of the common people, whom he loved, as well as the dialect of the 
refined circles. He was fond of reading, but only of the best works in composi- 
tion of any kind ; and he left an exciting romance half finished, at the hint of 
something not wholesome or altogether lofty in the author's tone. His mind 
and heart were in unison ; and on his young companions, as well as elders, he 
made the same stamp of a superiority permitting only one idea of him. It were 
hard to tell whether the i-eflective or executive faculties prevailed, so exact in his 
very nature was their poise. But the moral in him ever presided over the intel- 
lectual. Not for distinction, but duty, he lived, as he died. I know how the 
dead are eulogized, and what a eulogy I give; but out of the sincere thoughts 
of my heart I give it — that those who knew him best, while they admired his 
talents, were never able to discover his faults. 

" Such is one of our sacrifices of life. A dawn predicting individual excel- 
lence through a long career, as plainly as the yet beardless Raphael's picture of 
the holy marriage was said to be prophetic of all his subsequent fame, has sud- 
denly withdrawn its lustre from the earth. Is the sacrifice too great ? I ask his 
kindred, is it too great? "Would you have your boy back? Under the old dis- 
pensation, when a sacrifice God would surely accept was to be made, a firstling 
of the flock, a lamb without spot or blemish, was singled out for the altar. A 
firstling of the flock, a lamb without spot or Ijlemish, has been selected now. 
God himself, for this very purpose, as I think, of a measureless blessing to en- 
liven the common heart, has chosen a victim from our beloved fold. No, we 
would not have him back. We would have him where he is ! In the victim 
may we see the victory too. In the follower, as in the master, may the twofold 



48 NOTABLE MEN. 

lesson of triumph with sacritice be seen. May the Divine wisdom, that loses life 
more certainly to save it, and gives up to gain all, shown so well in a new ex- 
ample, have imitation everywhere and continuance without end. Be humbly 
proud, be sacredly envious of the dead in the pattern disjjlayed ; for imitation 
and continuance it has ! The enlistment, at the public need, of educated young 
men is not damped, but inspirited, from a companion's or kinsman's expiring 
breath. That breath passeth far through the whole air, into their nostrils ! ' I 
must go,' said one of them to his father; 'I feel like a poltroon here at home.' — 
' Go with my blessing,' was the father's reply. As the father himself told me 
this yesterday, he could talk no farther, for tears, but turned away. May the 
spectacle, so frequent among us — the most beautiful spectacle now beneath the 
sun — of boyhood tearing itself from mothers' embraces and fathers' arms, and 
happy homes, and loving dissuasives, to consecrate itself to country's good, pre- 
figure another spectacle, of a country purged of its errors and renewing its youth. 
May Heaven bless to our redemption every vicarious sacrifice — of the wounded 
and still exposed, as well as the dead ; and so may all loss and self-surrender be 
sanctified in a perpetual resurrection, from the Most High, on earth and in 
heaven, of 'the beauty of Israel,' slain uponowr high places, till the blood of the 
martyrs, which is the seed of the Church, shall be also the life of the State. 
Standing, for us and ours, 'as on life's utmost verge,' at the edge of whatever 
may come to mortals, so to the Eternal we pray ; — and may the Eternal to what 
even on earth is immortal in us too, answer our prayer! Then we shall not 
have sacrificed on his altar in vain. All our sacrifices will redound alike to 
his glory, our country's welfare, and our own final gladness and peace. It is no 
sacrifice of truth, justice, freedom, or any human right, that we make. Only 
lower and cheaper things we sacrifice to these principles which are the attributes 
of God. Fixed be our fiiith that something, not of the dust and not laid low on 
the field, something which the funeral procession cannot marshal, nor the mighty 
state precede, nor the whole earth, whose mouth opens for the dead, swallow up, 
has escaped alive above the bonds we yet wear, into the region where is liberty, 
unity, peace, and light, with no need of the sun, for the Lord God doth lighten 
it, and the Lamb is the light thereof" 




(•„! JvlK 'J i.VF.L C OllCf Jl i.\X . 




MICHAEL OOECORAK 

IN conformity with a custom, to wliicli the wisest and best men have given 
tlieir sanction, it wll not be deemed inappropriate, in giving a biographical 
memoir of the heroic colonel of the famous sixty -ninth regiment of the New York 
state militia, to preface it with a glance at his genealogy. While it affords solid 
gratification to the friends of Colonel Corcoran to know that ho is the founder 
of his own good name, it certainly detracts nothing from his record to learn that, 
according to testimony still 'preserved in his family, he is, on the female side, de- 
scended from a celebrated Irish hero, who, like the subject of the present notice, 
nobly fought to uphold the flag of his adoption when exiled from his native land. 
Wiiile presenting a flag to the Irish brigade, and alluding to that previously pre- 
sented to the old sixty-ninth, the Honorable Judge Daly touchingly and signifi- 
cantly called up the relationship between those gallant exiles, and the faith of an 
Irish soldier, as illustrated by both. " At the head of it" (the sixty-ninth), said 
Judge Dal)', " was the noble-minded, high-spirited, and gallant (.ifficcr to whom 
so much of its after-character was due. A descendant b}" the female line of that 
illustrious Irish soldier, Patrick Sarsfield, Earl of Lucan, whose name is identified 
with the siege of Limerick, and who fell fighting at the head of his brigade upon 
the Tiloody field of Landen, Colonel Corcoran, in the spirit of his noble ancestor, 
received that flag with a soldier's promise, and kept that jsromise with a soldier's 
faith. It was not brought back from the field of Manassas, on that day of disas- 
trous rout and panic, but he at least, and the little band who stood around him in 
its defence, went with it into cajativity. I need say no more when presenting this 
splendid gift with which these ladies have honored your regiment, than to point 
to this Irish example of the faith and fidelity that is due by a soldier to his flag. 
Colonel Corcoran is now within the walls of a rebel prison, one of the selected 
victims for revengeful Southern retaliation ; but he has the satisfaction of feeling 
that he owes his sad though proud pre-eminence to having acted as became a 
descendant of Sai'sfield." At the same fight — the siege of Limerick — wliich 
made Sarsfield immortal, the O'Corcorans of Sligo were not without a represent- 
ative who has inspired the miise of Carolan. In the second volume of the Jrixh 



OO NOTABLE MEN. 

Minstrehy (Hardiman) will be fecund a hearty song, translated from the Ii-isli 
c'oiiinieneing — 

•■(1 ("orcoraii. thy fame be it mine to proclaim" — 

ill honor of one of the heroes of that memorable struggle. Thomas Coreoran, one 
officer in the British service, returned from the West Indies, and, having retired 
on half-pa}', was married to Miss Mary M'Donogh, in the year 1824. From this 
union Colonel Michael Corcorax sprang. lie was born on the 21st Septem- 
ber, 1827, at Carrowkeel, the seat of the M'Donoghs, in the county Sligo. After 
receiving a plain English education, he spent some three years in the Irish con- 
stabulary establishment, resigned his place in August, 1849, and emigrated to 
America. Gifted with a keen, clear intellect, and having nothing to relv on but 
his own exertions, he woidd not allow himself to be long idle. lie was almost 
immediately employed. He exhibited directness of purpose, unimpeachability 
of action, and strong natural talents. The former made him friends, and the 
latter kept awake an honest ambition, which ultimately found a noble outlet in 
the ])atriotic support of the Union. Besides being engaged in business in New 
York, he was apjwinted to an official situation in the post-office, and was clerk 
in the register's office just previous to his departure for the seat of war. 

The military career of Colonel Corcoran in America may be dated from his 
entrance into the sixty-ninth, as a private in Company I (which has since been 
changed to Company A). Here the passion which has been so strongly devel- 
oped was not dormant. He soon was elected orderly sergeant, and rose by the 
voice of his comrades to be successively first-lieutenant and captain, receiving 
from the company, during his upward progress, several substantial testimonials 
to his fitness and ability in cxcyv position. 

Captain Corcoran was a iiiithful servant of the state in what is known as the 
"Quarantine War," being then senior captain of the sixty-ninth; and the in- 
spector-generars return pays a distinguished tribute to his military character. 
In this official recognition of true and modest merit, the inspector said : " What 
I might say of Captain Corcoran, commanding Company A, as to his military 
knowledge, would not add to his already well-known reputation as among tlie 
best, if not the very best officer, of his rank in the fii-st division." This was high 
piraise, and occurrences since and recently show that it reflects not less credit on 
the officer who conferred than on him who received it. 

Captain Corcoran was elected colonel of the sixty-ninth, August 25th, 1859, 
to fill a vacancy caused by the death of Colonel Ryan. Since that time, his 
name and that of the regiment have been synonymous. He was especially 
brought before the public on the occasion of the visit of the Prince of Wales. 
Colonel Corcoran deeply sympathizes with the cause of Irish nationality, is a 
personal friend of several gentlemen who were prominent in the Irish movement 



MICHAEL CORCORAN. 51 

of '48, and a leading member of one of the most extensive Irish societies in 
America. He declined to parade the Irish-born citizen, in his command, to do 
honor to the son — however harmless — of the sovereigTi under whose rule those 
whom he believed to be the best men raised in Ireland for half a century were 
banished. He was consistent with the history of those heroes of Limerick with 
whom tradition associates his blood, not less than with the feelings of the coi-ps 
he commanded, and his own theories and principles. His court-martial and de- 
fence — ably delivered by Mr. Eichard O'Gorman — are now matters of pride, not 
only among hundreds of thousands of his adopted fellow-citizens, but those who 
deem the subsequent conduct of England any thing but a fair or grateful requital 
for the hospitality extended to her heir-apparent. 

Colonel Corcoran's action at the breaking out of the rebellion was quite 
characteristic of his patriotic character. Great hopes were built upon the Irish 
Democrats by sympathizers with the leading traitor. This was enhanced by the 
treatment Corcoran and the sixty-ninth received in the conduct of the court- 
martial. It is not too much to say that Coi-coran's upright and unselfish course 
at this juncture was one of the most severe and deadly blows the sympathizers 
with secession in the North could have received. Many of the officers of the 
sixty-ninth were doubtful of the propriety of " turning out'' while their colonel 
was undergoing a court-martial for an act which they completely justified. Im- 
mediately Colonel Corcoran, in a public letter, implored them not to take him 
into any account, but to stand by the flag of the Union and the sacred princijjles 
involved in its sustainment. The result is known. The court-martial was 
quashed ; the Union sentiment of the Irish rushed like a torrent into the ranks 
of the army ; and the sixty-ninth left for the seat of war, attended by one of the 
most enthusiastic multitudes ever chronicled in our city history. 

In the progress of the arduous labors which were assigned to his command. 
Colonel Corcoran won the esteem of the heads of the war department, and the 
enthusiastic applause of the United States officers with whom he served or co- 
operated. As the bulwark and avant garde of the brigade having in special 
charge the defence of the principal avenues from Virginia into the capital, the 
sixty-ninth won enduring honors. Fort Corcoran — a name conferred by the war 
department — will remain a lasting monument of its zeal and energy. All through 
its service — at Annapolis ; along the railroad to the junction ; at Georgetown ; 
during the building of Fort Corcoran, along Arlington Heights ; at the relief of 
the Ohio troops at the railroad near Vienna ; the various midnight alarms and 
preparations in and out of camp ; and the subsequent movements at Centreville, 
ending iu the battle at Bull Run — the indomitable colonel gave his regiment un- 
ceasing examples of courage and patriotism. He greatly distinguished himself 
at Bull Run, and we believe is the only one officially chronicled (see General 



52 NOTABLE MEN. 

Sherman's report) as having brought his regiment off the field in a hollow square. 
A soldier's letter, which found its way into the papers at the time, gi\es a graphic 
glimpse of the fact. " Sherman," says the writer, " told the bravest of colonels 
(Corcoran) to fomi square. The gallant colonel said, ' I have not as many as I 
like to do .so, but we'll do tlie best we can.' The brave and determined cdloncl 
formed us into square, and so we retreated, receiving a fresh flanking fire fi'om 
our adversaries as we went along." It was in this fire Colonel Corcoran was 
wounded, which led to his capture. For some time he was held prisoner in 
Richmond; subsequently sent to Castle Pinckne}-, Charleston harbor; and in an- 
ticipation of an assault on the city of Charleston by the Port Royal expedition, 
was removed to Columbia, in the interior of the state of South Carolina. Soon 
after his capture, he was offered his liberation if he woidd not again take up 
arms against the traitors. He indignantly repelled the overture, avowed his 
enthusiastic faith in and devotion to the cause of the Union, and declared his 
intention to take up arms for it as soon as circumstances would permit. 

Upon Colonel Corcoran probably more than on anj' other of the Union pris- 
oners has public attention been fixed and public sentiment aroused. His con- 
duct as a prisoner has reflected credit upon the Union soldiery, and the treatment 
he has received from the traitors has appealed deeply to the hearts of the whole 
community. The announcement that he was chosen as one of the hostages for 
the safety of the privateers condemned to death as pirates, sent a thrill of indig- 
nant pity and shame throughout the North, and fixed more intently and impa- 
tiently the minds of thinking men on the subject of a general exchange of 
prisoners. Tlie matter was ardently and in the main privately agitated ; and a 
commission, composed of Hiram Barney, Esq., collector of New York, Judge 
Daly, and Messrs. Richard O'Gornian and John Savage, Esqs., was induced to 
proceed to Washington to confer with the cabinet and Congress on the imme- 
diate and humane necessity of such a proceeding. For several days the commit- 
tee were actively engaged canvassing the leading minds at the seat of government, 
and on the 10th December they were invited hj the President to attend a full 
cabinet council. Their efforts were satisfactory in an eminent degree. The mil- 
itary committees of both houses of Congress, as well as General M'Clellan, met 
their proposals with eager and humane statemanship, and they were encouraged 
by many eminent men. In a recent letter, Colonel Corcoran thus warmly alludes 
to these efforts in his case : " Be pleased to present the expression of my warmest 
thanks to Judge Daly, Hiram Barney, Richard O'Gorman, and John Savage, 
Esqs., and the other friends who have so kindly devoted so much time, labor, 
and expense, in their endeavors to obtain my release, and assure them I feel just 
pride in the knowledge of having such friends; and if a shade of gloom shall at 
any time darken the hours of my captivity, a recollection of their services shall 



MICHAEL CORCORAN. 53 

be sufficient to dispel it." The great popularity of Colonel Corcoran in the 
North renders him an object of particular attention on the part of the rebels ; 
and the influence of Lis name with the Irish population is doubtless the chief 
reason why he has been in more than one instance selected as the subject of 
Southern retaliation. The "government" of the "Confederate States" seem to 
bitterly appreciate and acquiesce in the force of the remark made by Mr. John 
O'Mahony — the Gaelic scholar and a leading Irish exile of '48 — at a public 
meeting in Philadelphia, when he said: " May they everywhere prove, as Cor- 
coran has done, that the Irishman who is most faithful and devoted to his own 
land, is also the best and loyalest citizen of America — tliat the best Irishman 
makes the best American. I have no hesitation in saying that so far as he has 
gone up to this, Colonel Corcoran has done more to assert the dignity and im- 
portance of the Irish citizens of the Union, and to elevate their position in this 
country, than any Irishman who has yet \Tsited the American shores." 



fel 



vM3^, 




'im" 




A BT; AH AM 1 .1 N C OI ,1^ 




'l^ytC€'Tny<^. 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 

PRESIDENTS must first be candidates, and candidates are public property, 
for all the great purposes of defamation and personal abuse ; when one is 
named for the Presidency, a large section of the press, and a great portion of the 
people, find a direct interest in the propagation of whatever may tend to render 
contemptible the person named, and to make him appear unfit for any position 
of dignity or trust. Hence the present President is known over a great part of 
the country as " the baboon," and respectable writers in Europe have lamented 
the result of universal suifrage in his election ; though perliaps no man ever 
occupied the same position who in himself and in his personal history was more 
truly representative of all that is best in the American people. 

Abraham Lincoln was born in Hardin county, Kentucky (at a place now 
included in La Rue county), February 12th, 1809. • His ancestors were Quakers, 
and migrated from Berks county, Pennsylvania, to Rockingham county, Virginia, 
whence his grandfather Abraham removed with his family to Kentucky, about 
1782, and was killed by the Lidians in 178-1. Thomas Lincoln, the father of 
Abraham, was born in Virginia, and the President's mother, Nancy Hanks, was 
also a native of that state. Thomas Lincoln removed with his fomily in 1816 to 
a district now included in Spencer county, Indiana, where Abraham, then large 
for his age, assisted with an axe to clear away the forest. For the next ten years 
he was mostly occupied in this and other equally hard work on his fiither's farm, 
and in this period he went to school a little at intervals ; but the whole time of 
his attendance at school amounted in the aggregate to not more than a year. 
He never went to school subsequently. His first experience of the world beyond 
home was acquired on a flat-boat, upon which he made the trip to New Orleans 
as a hired hand, when nineteen years of age. The advantages of travel under 
these circumstances are not great. Flat-boats it is true have been made the 
centre of a certain kind of free, western romance, and to float down the Ohio and 
the Mississippi in happy companionship with the "jolly flat-boat man," looks 
very pretty in a picture ; especially if the picture be well painted, like Mount's. 
But unfortunately all flat-boat men were not jolly, and flat-boats didn't always 
float, flat-boat men were not the chosen of the human race, except peiliaps for rough- 
ness, and flat-boats had very often to be poled along ; there was much of coarse 



56 NOTABLE MEN. 

association ff)r n boy to struggle against, and a dual of Lard work to be done. 
On the other hand such travel is not delusive, it does not permit life to look the 
least like a holiday affair, nor unfit the wanderer for a sober return to the quiet- 
ness of home. Young Lincoln at the least travelled in a practical American man- 
ner, saw something of the world, and got paid for it. 

Settlers are a most unsettled generation, and in March, 1830, Thomas 
Lincoln migrated again ; this time to Macon county, Illinois. Abraham accom- 
l^anied his father to the new home, and there helped to build a log-cabin for the 
famil}', and to split enough rails to fence ten acres of land. From this he has 
been called the Eail-splitter. Now, to split rails has been a necessary piece oi 
labor since the days of Milo of Crotona, who was a rail-splitter in his time ; and 
while that occupation may not qualify a man for statesmanship, the name of 
Eail-splitter is a better one than Hair-splitter; moreover, while a man's career 
and the words he has spoken show his brain to be a good one, it is no harm 
to him before the people to be able to show a good muscular record. Young 
Lincoln's flat-boat trip soon proved to be an advantage, and in 1831 he was 
engaged, at twelve dollars a month, to assist in the construction of a flat-boat, and 
subsequently in its navigation down the river to New Orleans. He acquitted 
himself to the satisfaction of his employer, who upon his return piut him in 
charge of a store and mill at New Salem, then in Sangamon, now in Menard 
county, Illinois. But these peaceful successes were soon lost sight of in the 
excitement of the Black Hawk war, which broke out in 1833. Lincoln joined a 
company of volunteers, and was elected their captain, an event which gave him 
a great deal of pleasure. He served through a camjjaign of three months, and 
on his return home was nominated by the Whigs of his district as a candidate 
for the state legislature ; but the county was Democratic and he was defeated, 
though in his own immediate neighborhood he received two hundred and seventy- 
seven votes, while only seven were cast against him. These indications of 
personal popularity flattered and stimulated to future effort, and were thus not 
without their efiect upon a young man looking for a career. His next venture 
was the establishment of a country store, which did not prove prosperous, and 
which he relinquished to become postmaster of New Salem. While in this position 
he began to study law, and borrowed for that purpose the books of a neighboring 
practitioner ; the books were taken at night, and returned in the morning before 
tliey could be needed in the lawyer's office. Upon the offer of the surveyor of San- 
gamon county, to depute to him a portion of the work of the count}- surveyor's 
office, Mr. Lincoln procured a compass and chain and a treatise on surveying, 
and did the work. In 1834 he was again nominated as a candidate for the 
legislature, and was elected by the largest vote cast for any candidate in the 
state. He was re-elected in 1836, and in the same year was licensed to ]iractise. 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 57 

law. From New Salem lie removed in AjDril, 1837, to Springfield, and there 
opened a law office in partnership with Major John F. Stuart. Mr. Lincoln was 
re-elected to the state legislature in the years 1836 and 1840, and meanwhile 
rose rapidly to distinction in his profession, becoming especially eminent as an 
advocate in jury trials. He was also several times a candidate for presidential 
elector, and as such canvassed all of Illinois and part of Indiana for Henry Clay, 
in 1844, and made speeches before large audiences almost every day. 

Mr. Lincoln was elected a representative in Congress from the central district 
of Illinois in 1846, and took his scat on the first Monday in December, 1847. 
His congressional career was consistently that of one who believed in freedom 
and respected the laws. He voted forty-two times in favor of the Wilmot 
proviso. He voted for the reception of anti-slavery memorials and petitions ; for 
an inquiry into the constitutionality of slavery in the district of Columbia, and 
the expediency of abolishing the slave-trade in the district ; and on January 16th, 
1849, he offered to the House a scheme for the abolition of slavery in the district, 
and for the compensation of slave-owners from the United States treasury, 
provided a majority of the citizens of the district should vote for the acceptance 
of the act. He opposed the annexation of Texas, but voted for the loan bill to 
enal)le the government to carry on the Mexican war, and for various resolutions 
to prohibit slavery in the territory to be acquired from Mexico. He voted also 
in favor of a protective tariff, and of selling the public lands at the lowest cost 
price. In 1849 he was a candidate for the United States Senate, but was defeated. 
Upon the expiration of his congressional term Mr. Lincoln ajijplied himself to his 
profession ; but the repeal of the Missouri compromise called him again into the 
political arena, and he entered energetically the canvass which was to decide the 
choice of a Senator to succeed General Shields. The Republican triuiniih, and 
the consequent election of Judge Trumlnill to the Senate, were attributed mainly 
to his eftbrts. Mr. Lincoln was ineffectually urged as a candidate for the vice- 
presidency in the national convention which nominated Colonel Fremont in 1856. 
He was unanimously nominated candidate for United States Senator in opposi- 
tion to Mr. Douglas by the Republican state convention at Springfield, June 2(1, 
1858, and canvassed the state with liis opponent, speaking on the same day at 
the same place. In the course of this canvass, and in reply to certain questions 
or statements of Mr. Douglas, Mr. Lincoln made the following declarations : " I do 
not now, nor ever did, stand in favor of the unconditional repeal of the fugitive 
slave law. I do not now, nor ever did, stand pledged against the admission of any 
more slave states into the Union. I do not stand pledged against the admission of 
a new state into the Union with such a constitution as the people of that state may 
see fit to make. ... I am impliedly, if not expressly, pledged to a belief in the 
right and duty of Congress to prohibit slavery in all the United States territories." 



58 NOTABLE MEN. 

la explanatioa he said, " la regard to the fugitive slave law, I have never hesitat- 
ed to say, and I do not now hesitate to say, that I think, under the constitution of 
the United States, the people of the Southern states arc entitled to a congressional 
fuo-itive slave law. .... In regard to the question of whether I am pledged to the 
admission of anj- more slave states into the Union, I state to you very frankly that 
I would be exceedingly sorry ever to be put in a position of having to pass upon 
that question. I should be exceedingly glad to know that there would never be 
another slave state admitted into the Union ; but I must add that, if slavery shall 
be kept out of the territories, during the territorial existence of any one given 
territory, and then the people shall, having a fair chance and a clear field, when 
they come to adopt their constitution, do such an extraordinary thing as adopt a 
slave constitution uninfluenced by the actual presence of the institution among 
them, I see no alternative, if we own the country, but to admit them into the 
Union." Assertions like this should be a sufficient answer to those who pro- 
nounce Mr. Lincoln an abolitionist. The Eepublican candidates pledged to the 
election of Mr. Lincoln received one hundred and twenty-five thousand two hun- 
dred and seventv-five votes ; the Douglas candidates received one hundred and 
twenty-one thousand one hundred and ninety votes ; and the Lecompton candi- 
dates five thousand and seventy-one. Mr. Lincoln had thus, on the popular 
vote, a clear majority over Mr. Douglas of four thousand and eighty-five ; but 
Mr. Douglas was elected Senator by the legislature, in which his supporters had 
a majority of eight on joint ballot. 

Mr. Lincoln acquired a national reputation mainly through liis contest with 
Senator Douglas, and it consequently excited much surprise when, in the Ee- 
publican national convention assembled at Chicago, his name was put forward in 
connection with the Presidency. Many prominent Eepublicans did not hesitate 
to declare their further support of the party conditional upon the nomination of 
Mr. Seward ; but the availability of Mr. Lincoln was persistently urged by those 
who considered his most prominent opponent too conspicuously committed to 
the unpopular opposition to slavery interests. The whole number of votes in 
the convention was four hundred and sixty -five, and two hundred and thirty- 
three were necessary to a choice. Mr. Seward led on the first two ballots ; and 
on the third, Mr. Lincoln received three hundred and fifty -four votes, and his 
nomination was declared unanimous. His opponents for the Presidency in other 
parties were brought forward in such a manner, that the country was geographi- 
cally divided, and the contest was made almost exclusively sectional. By the 
extreme course of the Southern press, the sectional feature of the contest was 
more clearly brought out, and it was forced upon the ISTorth that Mr. Lincoln was 
exclusively its own candidate; and the disruption of the country was openly 
threatened in the event of his election. From this it resulted that Mr. Lincoln 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 59 

received at the North a support that he could never have received on his party 
account, and with three other candidates in the field his popular vote was one 
million eight hundred and fiftj'-seven thousand six hundred and ten. His vote 
in the electoral college was one hundred and eighty, against one hundred and 
forty -three for all others ; and the gentleman who had received the largest oppo- 
sing vote, John C. Brcckenridge, declared from his place as president of the 
Senate, February 13th, 1861, that "Abraham Lincoln, of Illinois, having re- 
ceived a majority of the whole number of electoral votes, was duly elected Presi- 
dent of the United States for the four years commencing on the ith of March, 
186L" 

Mr. Lincoln arrived in Philadelphia, on his way to the capital, February 
21st; and he there received full and accurate information, through the detective 
jiolice, of the particulars of a plan for his assassination in the streets of Baltimore 
when he should reach that city. On the next day he visited Ilarrisburg, spoke 
before the legislature of Pennsylvania, and that night returned privately, but 
not disguised, to Philadelphia, whence he took the regular night train for Wash- 
ington, and, without change of cars, arrived in the capital shortly after six, A. M., 
of February 23d. He was duly inaugurated on the 4:th of March, and upon that 
occasion he said : " Apprehension seems to exist among the people of the South- 
ern states that, by the accession of a Republican administration, their property 
and their peace and personal security are to be endangered. There has never 
been any reasonable cause for such apprehension. Indeed, the most ample evi- 
dence to the contrary has all the while existed, and been open to their inspec- 
tion. It is found in nearly all the published speeches of him who now addresses 
you. I do but quote from one of those speeches when I declare that ' I have no 
purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with the institution of slavery in the 
states where it exists.' I believe I have no lawful right to do so, and I have no 

inclination to do so I consider that, in view of the constitvition, the Union 

is unbroken, and to the extent of my ability I shall take care, as the constitution 
itself expressly enjoins upon me, that the laws of the Union shall be faithfully 
executed in all the states." 

For some time previous to the election, resistance to the laws had been de- 
termined upon in the event of Mr. Lincoln's success ; and on December 20th a 
convention assembled in South Carolina had declared that state out of the Union. 
During the months of January and February, 1861, the states of Mississippi, Ala- 
bama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas, had been also declared out of the 
Union in a similar manner ; and a congress of representatives from those states 
had convened at Montgomery, in Alabama, February 6th, had chosen a Presi- 
dent, and proceeded othei-wise to organize a new government. Such was the 
position of affairs at the time of Mr. Lincoln's inauguration. Only a day after it. 



60 NOTABLE MEN. 

Peter G. T. Beauregard, an officer of tlie United States army, but involved in 
the rebellion, was ordered by tlie rebel President to the command of the forces 
assembled for the investment of Fort Sumter, and on March 9th, the so-called 
Confederate Congress passed an act for the establishment and organization of an 
array. Yet Mr. Lincoln did not entirely despair of a settlement of the trouble 
without war, and the policy chosen by him, to use his own words, " looked to 
the exhaustion of all peaceful measures before a resort to any stronger ones." 
He therefore " sought only to hold the public places and property not already 
wrested from the government, and to collect the revenue, relying for the rest on 
time, discussion and the ballot-box. He promised a continuance of the mails, at 
government expense, to the very people who were resisting the government, and 
gave repeated pledges against any disturbances to any of the people, or to any of 
their rights. Of all that which a President might constitutionally and justifi- 
ably do in such a case, every thing was forborne, without which it was believed 
possilile to keep the government on foot." 

But this was of no avail, and in a little more than a month after Mr. 
Lincoln's accession to office, Fort Sumter in Charleston harbor was attacked, 
and " bombarded to its fall." The bombardment and surrender were concluded 
on the thirteenth of April, and on the fifteenth the President issued his first 
proclamation — by which he called out " the militia of the several states of the 
Union to the aggregate number of seventy-five thousand, in order to suppress 
rebellious combinations, and to cause the laws to be duly executed;" and con- 
vened both houses of Congress in extra session. By subsequent proclamations 
he declared the complete blockade of all the ports of the United States south of 
the Chesapeake ; increased the regular army by twenty -two thousand, and the 
navy by eighteen thousand men, and called for volunteers to serve during three 
years, to the number of five hundred thousand. " These measures, whether 
strictly legal or not, were ventured upon under what appeared to be a popular 
demand and a public necessity ; trusting that Congress would readily ratify 
them." 

Congress readily did so. Further reference to these affairs was made by 
the President in his first message to Congress in these noble words : " It was 
with the deepest regret that the executive found the duty of employing the war 
power in defence of the government forced upon him. He could but perform this 
duty, or surrender the existence of the government. No compromise by public, 
servants could, in this case, be a cure — not that compromises are not often 
proper ; but that no popular government can long survive a mai'ked precedent 
that those who carry an election can only save the government from immediate 
destruction, by giving up the mam pomt upon which the j^eople gave the elec- 
tion. The people themselves, and not their sei-vants, can safely reverse their own 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 61 

deliberate decision. As a private citizen, the executive could not have con- 
sented that those institutions should perish, much less could he m betrayal of so 
vast and so sacred a trust as these free people had confided to him. He felt that 
he had no moral right to shrink, nor even to count the chances of his own life in 
■what might follow. In full view of his gi-eat responsibility he has so far done what 
he has deemed his duty. You mil now, according to your own judgment per- 
form yours. He sincerely hopes that yonv views and your action may so accord 
with his, as to assure all fiiithful citizens who have been disturbed in their rights 
of a certain and speedy restoration to them under the constitution and the laws, 
and ha\-ing thus chosen our cause without guile and with pure purpose, let us 
renew our trust in God and go forward without fear, and with manly hearts." 

No truer estimate of the President's career, and no higher panegyric of it 
has ever been uttered, than the assertion of Mr. Wendell Phillips, that " Lincoln 
is led astray by his idolatry of the constitution." These words, uttered in dero- 
gation of the President's course, are his best praise with every lover of his 
country. 







liHTO, CVF.N. HIJ'VN' KK.U USA 



LOUIS BLEJSTKER. 

HISTORY does not give its unqualified admiration to the soldier of for- 
tune ; but the soldier of fortune, luckily, can do without it. Satisfied to 
" di-ink delight of battle with his peers"— to fight and win, whether in one land 
or another — he comes and goes ; and while the world may perhaps be something 
the worse for him, it is doubtless very often the better. And we certainly should 
find but little fault with a disposition in men that so often gives our country's 
battles the benefit of experience gained in other lands and in other causes ; and 
far from the manifestation of an orthodox and pious horror at the mention of his 
name, we ought rather to consider " soldier of fortune" an honorable title. 

Louis Blenker was born in the city of Woi-ms, in the grand-duchy of 
Hesse-Darmstadt, in the year 1812. His father was a jeweller in respectable 
business there, and had no more ambitious views for his son than to see him in 
the future a worthy jeweller also, earning an honest livelihood in his native city. 
Louis was accordingly instructed in the manipulation of fine gold, and in the 
general art and mystery of his fiither's craft , duly " served his time," and sud- 
denly found himself arrived at the age of manhood, a journeyman jeweller, with 
the world before him. Disposed to "look about" rather than to settle immedi- 
ately into the inevitable routine of a workman's life, the juncture was a fovor- 
able one. Just then a large share of the attention of Europe was turned toward 
Greece. That country was in a state of indescribable anarchy. Every individ- 
ual, apparently, who had assisted in the war of independence, then recently con- 
cluded, desired to govern the country on his own account; and the various 
mountain-chiefs, with bands of wild, brave fellows at their heels, who in the war 
had stood fire like salamanders, fought one another, massacred the people, pillaged 
the cities, and in every way kept up a tumult. One congress and government 
assembled at Napoli di Eomania, when another, in opposition, was immediately 
convened at Megara, overran the country with its forces, and drove out the first. 
No sooner did this revolutionary body become thus the established government, 
than all the elements of disorder arrayed themselves against it, and it was in 
a fair way to be driven out in turn, when a change for the better took place 
through the decision of the three great European powers. They agreed in May, 
1832, upon the election of Prince Frederick Otho, of Bavaria, as king of Greece, 



64 NOTABLE MEN. 

and Greece acquiesced in tlie choice. But a crown prince was not all that Ba- 
varia was called upon to furnish, for with the Prince was to go a Bavarian legion 
of three thousand five hundred men ; and immediately the drvim went round for 
recruits, and all along the Ehine stout fellows desirous to see the world, and 
tempt the Lady Fortune in their favor, were in brisk demand. 

Louis Blenker was just then free from an apprenticeship served in a dull 
German city, and an adventurous life must necessarily have seemed to him pos- 
sessed of every charm that fancy could give it ; so he became one of the thirty- 
live hundred, and entered the Bavarian legion in the capacity of a private sol- 
dier. Otho, accompanied by the legion, embarked at Brindisi, in the kingdom 
of the Two Sicilies, January 24th, 1833. And there is our soldier fairly started 
in life. What destiny could offer higher promise of the romantic than this? 
And how it must have winged the young German's aspiration to be thus a sol- 
dier, afloat on that blue sea, in the train of one on his way to receive a throne, 
and with his face turned toward Greece, that parent-land of heroism and poesy — 
that 

" Clime of the miforgotten brave. 
Whose land from plain to mountain-c.nve 
Was freedom's home or glory's grave !' 

Otho and his train arrived in Greece without mishap, and the legion was 
debarked at Napoli, February 6th, 1883. There seemed a magic in the touch of 
German feet upon the classic soil. Tumult and schism were universally stilled, 
and there was a happy calm. It lasted, however, only till midsummer, when 
Colocotroni, a mountain chief and a universal agitator, began again to make 
trouble, and fonnidable combinations against the government appeared among the 
Mainotes and Roumeliotes. Against these the Bavarian legion was employed in 
various directions, and in its ranks young Blenker saw four years of peculiarly 
hard and almost incessant service. From a private he became sergeant, and 
upon the disbandment of the corps in 1837 he received with his conge the 
honorary rank of lieutenant. Lieutenancies, it should be remembered, are not 
thrown around in European countries as we have recently seen them in America. 
They arc the rewards (when bestowed upon men who are in the ranks) only of 
valuable and efficient service, and they consequently carry with them a legitimate 
distinction. Thus honored, and, in European eyes, elevated in the social scale, 
Blenker returned to Worms in 1887. Of course, it was no longer possible to 
settle in life as a jeweller, and from Worms he went to Munich, where he attended 
medical lectures with the view to the adoption of that profession — either to kill or 
cure he evidently thought liis destiny. But his intention toward a profession was 
)-elinquished very soon in favor of commerce, and he returned again to Worms, 
was married, and became established in the wine trade ; such was his position 



LOUIS BLEXKER. 65 

Avhen the troubles in 1848 began. His business, hitherto prosperous, then declined, 
and he was eventually declared bankrupt ; but this was not in any sense a com- 
mercial flxilure, and was the inevitable consequence of the stormy times. From 
its commencement, he was conspicuous in the popular movement. He became 
commander of the national guard in Worms, and also burgomaster of that city, 
and upon the actual outbreak of the revolution, he took an energetic part in it' 
and was of great assistance in the organization of the revolutionary forces.' 
When the revolutionary army was threatened by the imperial army and the 
Prussians under their Prince, he joined it at the head of a considerable body 
of men, and shared its subsequent fortunes throughout 1848. Several skir- 
mishes which he had in the next year, with the royalist forces, approach very 
near the proportions of battles. On May 10th he defeated a corps of the Baden 
army and made prisoners a number of officers, while many of the royal soldiers 
joined his own force. Seven days after he occupied Worms, which he aban- 
doned for a useless movement against Landau. Master of Worms for a second 
time, he left in it three hundred men, and marched into the I'alatinate. His 
three hundred men were driven out the next day by the government troops- 
while he himself, near to Boblenheim, encountered and defeated, after a hard 
fight, an equal force of Prussians. He then re-entered Baden, and took the com- 
mand of that portion of the revolutionary forces destined to cover Carlsruhe, 
and to sustain Mieroslawski, whose forces occupied the line of the Neckar.' 
After the combat of Durlach, he occupied the posts of Muhlbourg and Knie- 
Imgen. Driven from these posts, though not without a severe struggle, ho lost 
h,s last opportunity in tlic revolution through his failure to seize Baden-Baden, 
by the posssesion of which, it was thought he could have covered the disastrous 
retreat of the revolutionists. Upon the departure of Mieroslawski, he joined the 
forces of Sigel, Mieroslawski's successor. But the popular movement was ef- 
fectually crushed, and he retired into Switzerland. Throughout his irregular 
struggle the forces under Blenker's command had Ijehaved remarkably well— 
and that more was not done with them, was perhaps the fault of their leader, 
who, m the opportunity afforded, exhibited no conspicuous quality of soldiership^ 
if we except the one (that he unquestionably possessed) of cool and resolute 
courage. 

Blenker was ordered to leave the territory of the Helvetic confederation in 
September, 1849. He was permitted to travel through France, and emliarked 
at Havre for the United States, where he landed near the end of the year. Ar- 
rived here, he purchased a small farm in Rockland county. New York, and began 
life as a farmer. But his farming did not prove prosperous, and he abandoned it 
for more active business in New York city, in which he continued until the war 
began. Then he immediately took the proper steps for the organization of a 



64 NOTABLE MEN. 

and Greece acquiesced in the choice. But a crown prince was not all that Ba- 
varia was called ujion to furnish, for with the Prince was to go a Bavarian legion 
of three thousand five hundred men ; and immediately the drum went round for 
recruits, and all along the Eliine stout fellows desirous to see the world, and 
tempt the Lady Fortune in their favor, were in brisk demand. 

Louis Blenker was just then free from an apprenticeship served in a dull 
German city, and an adventurous life must necessarily have seemed to him pos- 
sessed of every cliarm that fancy could give it; so he became one of the thirty- 
five hundred, and entered the Bavarian legion in the capacity of a jirivate sol- 
dier. Otho, accompanied by the legion, embarked at Brindisi, in the kingdom 
of the Two Sicilies, January 24th, 1833. And there is our soldier fairly started 
in life. What destiny could offer higher promise of the romantic than this? 
And how it must have winged the young German's aspiration to be thus a sol- 
dier, afloat on that blue sea, in the train of one on his way to receive a throne, 
and with his face turned toward Greece, that parent-land of heroism and poesy — 
that 

" Clime of the unforgotten brave, 
Whose land from plain to moimtain-cave 
Was freedom's home or glory's grave !" 

Otho and his train arrived in Greece without mishap, and the legion was 
debarked at Napoli, February 6th, 1833. There seemed a magic in the touch of 
German feet upon the classic soil. Tumult and schism were universally stilled, 
and there was a happy calm. It lasted, however, only till midsummer, when 
Colocotroni, a mountain chief and a universal agitator, began again to make 
trouble, and formidable combinations against the government appeared among the 
Mainotes and Roumeliotes. Against these the Bavarian legion was employed in 
various directions, and in its ranks young Blenker saw four years of jjeculiarly 
hard and almost incessant seiwice. From a private he became sergeant, and 
upon the disbandment of the corps in 1837 he received with his conge the 
honorary rank of lieutenant. Lieutenancies, it should be remembered, are not 
thrown around in European countries as we have recently seen them in America. 
They are the rewards (when bestowed upon men who are in the ranks) only of 
valuable and efiicicnt service, and they consequently carry with them a legitimate 
distinction. Thus honored, and, in European eyes, elevated in the social scale, 
Blenker returned to Worms in 1837. Of course, it was no longer possible to 
settle in life as a jeweller, and from Worms he went to Munich, where he attended 
medical lectures with the view to the adoption of that profession — either to kill or 
cure he evidently thought his destiny. But his intention toward a profession was 
relinquished very soon in favor of commerce, and he returned again to Worms, 
was married, and became established in the wine trade ; such was his position 



LOUIS BLE NX ER. 65 

when the troubles in 1848 began, llis business, hitherto prosperous, then declined, 
and ho was eventually declared bankrupt ; but this was not in any sense a com- 
mercial failure, and was the inevitable consequence of the stormy times. From 
its commencement, he was conspicuous in the popular movement. He became 
commander of the national guard in "Worms, and also burgomaster of that city, 
and upon the actual outbreak of the revolution, he took an energetic part in it, 
and was of great assistance in the organization of the revolutionary forces. 
When the revolutionary army was threatened by the imperial army and the 
Prussians under their Prince, he joined it at the head of a considerable body 
of men, and shared its subsequent fortunes throughout 1848. Several skir- 
mishes which he had in the next year, with the royalist forces, approach very 
near the proportions of battles. On May 10th he defeated a corps of the Baden 
army and made prisoners a number of officers, while many of the royal soldiers 
joined his o^\'n force. Seven days after ho occupied Worms, which he aban- 
doned for a useless movement against Landau. Master of Worms for a second 
time, he left in it three hundred men, and marched into the I'alatinate. His 
three hundred men were driven out the next day by the government troops — 
while he himself, near to Boblenheim, encountered and defeated, after a hard 
fight, an equal force of Prussians. Ho then re-entered Baden, and took the com- 
mand of that portion of the revolutionary forces destined to cover Carlsruhe, 
and to sustain Mieroslawski, whose forces occupied the line of the Neckar. 
After the combat of Durlach, he occupied the posts of Muhlbourg and Knie- 
lingen. Driven from these posts, though not witliout a severe struggle, ho lost 
his last opportunity in the revolution through his fliilure to seize Baden-Baden, 
by the posssesion of which, it was thought he could have covered the disastrous 
retreat of the revolutionists. Upon the departure of Mieroslawski, he joined the 
forces of Sigel, Mieroslawski's successor. But the popular movement was ef- 
fectually crushed, and he retired into Switzerland. Throughout his irregular 
struggle the forces under Blenker's command had l>ehaved remarkably well — 
and that more was not done with them, was perhaps the fault of their leader, 
who, in the opportunity afforded, exhibited no conspicuous quality of soldiership, 
if we except the one (that he unquestionably possessed) of cool and resolute 
courage. 

Blenker was ordered to leave the territory of the Helvetic confederation in 
September, 1849. He was permitted to travel through France, and embarked 
at Havre for the United States, where he landed near the end of the year. Ar- 
rived here, he purchased a small farm in Rockland county. New York, and began 
life as a fanner. But his farming did not prove prosperous, and he abandoned it 
for more active business in New York city, in which he continued until the war 
began. Then he immediately took the proper steps for the organization of a 



66 NOTABLE MEN. 

regiment of liis countrymen in New York city, in which he was completely suc- 
cessful, and the regiment received the designation of the eighth regiment of New 
York volunteers, or first German rifles. Both this regiment and the German 
regiment of Colonel Max Weber were originally, by some confusion, designated 
the twentieth regiment. Colonel Blenker's regiment was among those most 
promptly organized for the war, and left New York city May 27th, 1861, only 
twenty -five days after the promulgation of President Lincoln's call for men to serve 
for three years. It had then already attained a fair degi-ee of discipline and con- 
siderable proficiency in drill. From New York the regiment proceeded to Wash- 
ington, where it arrived May 28th, and was quartered m various parts of the city 
until June 9th, when it went into camp on Meridian Hill, about two miles from 
the capital. During all the period from the first enrolment of his men. Colonel 
Blenker labored earnestly to make them perfect in eveiy detail of soldiership ; 
and when they went into camp, this endeavor was pursued by him even more 
rigorously still. 

Shortly before the advance to Centreville, Colonel Blenker's regiment was 
ordered into Virginia, where, with the twenty-ninth New York, the Garibaldi 
Guard, and the twenty-seventh Pennsjdvania regiment, it formed the first bri- 
gade of the fifth division, and Colonel Blenker was placed in command. Upon 
the day when the battle of Bull Eun was fought, the fifth division was in re- 
serve, and Blenker's command was formed upon the heights east of Centreville. 
Here it continued, necessarily inactive, until the retreat of the United States 
forces began, when, at about four, r. M., it was ordei'cd to advance upon the road 
from Centreville to Warrenton — an order executed with great difficulty, as the 
road was blocked up by baggage-wagons and the whole confusion of the retreat. 
Nevertheless, owing to the coolness of the officers and the discijiline of the men, 
the passage through the village was successfully executed, and the further ad- 
vance made with admirable precision, and Colonel Blenker took a position 
which would have enabled him to prevent the advance of the rebels, and protect 
the retreat of the Union forces, had the rebels made any pursuit. Blenker s 
own regiment, the eighth, was posted one mile and a half soutli of Centreville, on 
both sides of the road to Bull Run; the twenty-ninth regiment was half a 
mile behind the eighth ; and the Garibaldi Guard was in reserve in line, behind 
the twenty-ninth regiment. While in this position, the regular lines of the bri- 
gade were a pleasant sight to the distressed fugitives from the lost field. " The 
suffering of a hundred deaths," says a mtness of the scene, " would have been as 
nothing compared with tlie torture under which the few brave soldiers writhed, 
who were swept along by tlie maniac hurricane of terror. But suddenly their 
spirits were revived by a sight which, so long as God lets them live, they will 
never cease to remember with pride and joy. Stretching far across the road. 



LOUIS BLENKER. 67 

long before the hoped-for refuge of Centreville was reached, was a firm, un- 
swerving line of men, to whom the sight of the thousands who dashed by them 
was only a wonder or a scorn. This was the German rifle-regiment ; and to see 
the manly bearing of their general, and feel the inspiration which his presence 
gave at the moment, was like relief to those who j^erish in a desert. At least, 
then, all was not lost ; and we knew that, let our destiny turn that night as it 
should, there was one man who would hold and keep the fame of the nation un- 
sullied to the end."' And in this position Blenker held his men throughout the 
evening, and spread a sure protection over the multitude who fled disordered 
through his columns. Toward eleven o'clock, several squadrons of the enemy's 
cavalry advanced along the i-oad, and appeared before the outposts of the eighth 
regiment, but were driven back without difiiculty. At midnight the order to re- 
treat was received, and the brigade moved on to Washington, which it reached 
in safety nineteen hours after. For these services. Colonel Blenker was com- 
missioned a brigadier-general of volunteers, August 9th, 1861. 

In the various re-arrangements of corps that were made some time after 
the accession of General M'Glellan to the post of commander-in-chief, Blenker's 
command swelled to the proportions of a division ; and, on the grand review of 
November 20th, it mustered eleven regiments of infantry, two batteries of artil- 
lery, and a regiment of mounted riflemen. Although his command was thus as 
large as the other divisions of the army on the Potomac, various regiments of 
his countrymen, on their arrival at Washington, desired to be attached to Blen- 
ker's division. He also desired that all his countrymen should be made subject 
to a single command, and addressed General M'Clellan upon the subject. General 
M'Clcllan replied that the division was already sufficiently large. To this. Gen- 
eral Blenker responded in a letter which was probably written in some heat, and 
the tone of which was not what the etiquette of the service requires. General 
Marcy, as chief of General M'Clellan's staff, wrote to General Blenker in reproof 
of his note ; and General Blenker immediately penned a resignation of his posi- 
tion, and, it is said, sent it in, but subsequently withdrew it. 

General Blenker is now, therefore, in command of the fifth division of the 
army of the Potomac. His command extends geographically from the Potomac 
to the most westerly limit of the national lines in Virginia ; and is divided from 
General M'Dowell's division on the north by a line drawn a little to the south 
of Fort Eunyon and Munson's Hill ; and from General Franklin's division on 
the south by a line drawn a short distance to the north of Alexandria. 




2!§.'V-*-SK'"*''' 



'H 



M-AJrOEN. FRANZ SIGEL. 



FEANZ SIGEL. 

NEVER engaged in any battle where the side upon wliich he fought could 
fairly claim an unqualified victory ; and never engaged in a separate com- 
mand where he was not compelled to retreat, Franz Sigel yet keeps a sure hold 
upon public confidence, and a perusal of his career compels the acknowledgment 
of his thorough soldiership, and his ability as a general. This can only be the 
result of some real power in the man, for the world — -and especially our world 
• — is too fond of success to overlook disaster ; and unless fully impressed with 
the conviction that a better chance than he has hitherto had would show a better 
result, it would not hesitate to cry down the soldier whose only fault has been an 
utter want of luck, that great constituent of military fame. 

Franz Sigel was born at Zinsheim, in the grand duchy of Baden, Novem- 
ber 18th, 1824. His father held the important position of Kreisumtman — the 
highest magistrate in the county of Bruchsal. Fi-anz received a liberal edu- 
cation, and was graduated from the military school at Carlsruhe, whence he 
entered the regular army of Baden. Rapid advance is not common in that 
service, yet the young lieutenant had reached the post of chief-adjutant in the 
year 1847, and in this perhaps, we may see the benefit of his father's position. 
But when the revolution broke out in Southern Germany, young Siegel openly 
sympathized with it and was even said to have been compromised in Struve's 
premature attempt to revolutionize his native state ; through these difficulties he 
lost his commission in the Badisli army. All Germany was at that period 
divided upon the great question of a central government — with a liberal con- 
stitution, and the cashiered lieutenant at once cast his fortunes with the 
liberal party. He entered the contest with the natural ardor of a young soldier 
already martyred in what he believed to be the cause of his country and of 
freedom. Various journals agitated the cause on the part of the liberals, and for 
these Sigel wrote earnestly against the government, and in favor of a new one. 
He thus acquired a considerable influence with the people, and became prom- 
inent among the leaders of the movement. In March, 1849, a preliminary 
parliament was held at Frankfort, which issued a call for a National Assembly to 
meet in May, and to submit a plan of government. Disturbances in Rhenish 
Bavaria anticipated the action of the assembly thus called, and were denounced 
by the opponents of the liberal movement, as only the trickery of the agitators. 



70 



NOTABLE MEN. 



intended to make changes in the government appear more necessary, and to com- 
mit the people in ad\'ance to whatever revolutionary measures might be brought 
forward at Frankfort. Prussian soldiers were immediately marched into Rhenish 
Bavaria. Scarcely had the Prussians moved than the liberalists in the grand 
duchy of Baden made comraou cause with those in Rhenish Bavaria, and about 
twenty thousand persons publicly assembled at Offenburg in Baden, passed a 
series of resolutions, to the effect that the movement in Rhenish Bavaria should 
be supported, that the constitution voted by the National Assembly should be 
acknowledged, and that officers in the army should be chosen by the private 
soldiers. Many soldiers were in attendance, and one of the resolutions that re- 
ferred to them secured their adherance. On the same day the fortress of Rastadt 
was seized liy the soldiers of the garrison, and disturbances broke out at 
Carlsruhe. By ten o'clock that night, the grand duke and his ministers were in 
full flight, and the state was in the hands of the liberal party A " National 
Committee" assumed the powers of government. Lieutenant Eichfield was made 
minister of war, and Lieutenant Sigel became prominent among the 3"0ung 
officers whose fortunes were in the movement, and who were ready to organize 
and lead a popular army. With the state itself there had fallen into the hands 
of the liberals, seven millions florins in coin, two and a half in paper, and 
seventy thousand muskets, besides those in the hands of the army. The army 
numbered seventeen thousand men. Some energetic measures were taken by 
the new government ; but, in accordance with the revolutionary idea, the army 
was ordered to choose its officers anew. Doubtless, this was the death-blow of the 
revolutionary cause, for it virtually deprived the state of its army. Discipline 
was destroyed, and all organization entirely lost. " Soldiers appeared on parade," 
says an eye-witness, "in what they had indiscriminately jDlundered from the 
stores at Carlsruhe. Shakos, helmets, caps, great-coats, frocks, full-dress and un- 
dress uniforms, all figured in the same ranks Officers and privates, arm-in- 
arm, and excessively drunk, reeled through the streets." Raw recruits rose to 
the rank of major in a day, and a similar disproportion between service and posi- 
tion jircvailed throughout. Head-quarters were established at Heidelberg, and 
there Lieutenant Sigel arrived May 19th. 

Fi\-e days later, a meeting of liberals near the frontier, in Hesse-Darmstadt, 
was dispersed by the Hessian soldiery, and Lieutenant Sigel was ordered to lead 
the revolutionary army of Baden across the frontier. Four battalions of the line, 
with about six thousand volunteers, were reviewed at Heidelberg previous to the 
march ; and Sigel, as commander of the troops, issued a manifesto, in which was 
set forth the reasons why he prepared to enter the territory of Hesse-Darmstadt. 
But Mieroslawski, a Pole, who had been called to the chief command, arrived 
before the troops moved, and Sigel lost this early chance of distinction. 



FRANZ SIGEL. 71 

The revolutionary force, between ten and twelve thousand strong, marclied 
May 28th. On the 1st of June, the " National Committee" was superseded by a 
" Provisional Government" — formed of the same men as the committee had been 
• — and Sigel was made minister of war. From that period he necessarily exer- 
cised a controlling influence upon the struggle ; but, though no serious blow had 
yet been struck, the strength of the cause was gone. Bad counsel had prevailed ; 
the army was already ruined; the volunteers who came forward to fight fell 
into the radical German error, confounded personal with political freedom, and 
were consequently impossible to control ; and the confidence of the people was 
lost. Moreover, the leaders themselves appeared to have lost faith in the move- 
ment. Yet, under the administration of the young minister, a far from con- 
temptible resistance was made to the united imperial and Prussian armies. 

Active operations against the revolutionary forces began about the first of 
June ; and an imperial army, under Peucker, advanced from Furth in two col- 
umns, and came up with the army under Microslawski, near Weinheim, on the 
14th. Mieroslawski attacked Peuckcr's front and right flank, posted in the vil- 
lage of Grossacken, at six, A. M., on the 15th, and obtained some advantage, but 
was repulsed, though the battle continued till night. Peucker renewed the battle 
on the 16th, and suffered severely from Mieroslawski's artillery, but drove the 
latter from his position. Both sides claimed the victory, and Mieroslawski re- 
gretted his inability to pursue, through want of cavalry ; but each fell back to 
the position occupied previous to the fight on the loth. 

Peucker was superseded in command of the imperial army by the Prince of 
Prussia, who proclaimed the grand-duchy of Baden in a state of war, and that all 
offenders against military law should be tried by court-martial, and, if deemed 
necessary, punished with death. Mieroslawski withdrew his forces from his posi- 
tion near Weinheim to Waghausel on the Ehine, whither he was followed by the 
Prince of Prussia, whom he attacked, June 22d. He was again beaten, however, 
and retreated to the upper Neckar and the region of the Black Forest. Sigel, 
though minister, was present, and took an active part in these battles. After 
their victory at Waghausel, the Prussians crossed the Neckar, came up with the 
revolutionary forces at Ettlingen, beat them again, and drove them across the 
Murg. Mieroslawski now abandoned the cause and fled, and Sigel assumed the 
chief command. With his broken and demoralized forces he made a splendid 
retreat, and reached the fortress of Rastadt without loss of a gun. Here the 
most considerable portion of the revolutionary army was now left, while Sigel 
endeavored to rally further resistance in other quarters, and concentrated a force 
at Salem, in the Badish lake district. But the members of the provisional gov- 
ernment were already fugitives, and Rastadt was invested ; and, though some 
further resistance was offered, it was at best but a guerilla warfare, and was soon 



7-2 NUTAULE MEN. 

abandoned by Sigel, who entered Switzerland, July 11th. Driven from the 
Swiss territoiy, in common with all other fugitives from Baden, by the decree 
of the government of the Helvetic confederation, he was compelled to seek a fur- 
ther refuge, and reached the United States in 1850. He took up his residence 
in New York city, became associated in the conduct of an academy in Market 
street, and married the daughter of the principal of that academy. Dr. Dulou. 
He also took an active interest in the volunteer militia organization, and even 
held the position for some months, under Colonel Schwarzwaelder, of major in 
the fifth regiment. 

In Sei^tember, 1858, Sigel removed from New York to St. Louis, where he 
was employed as a teacher in the German- American Academy, when the present 
war became imminent. Peace had perhaps become ennuyante after ten years, and 
Sigel immediately determined, in the event of war, to take an active part. 
Known as a soldier of experience, he obtained a colonel's commission, and, upon 
the first call of the President ujion the people, he organized a regiment of his 
countrymen, which, under the designation of the third Missouri, was incorpo- 
rated. May 15th, in General Lyon's first Missouri brigade. This regiment was 
one of those enlisted for three months. Under Sigel's command, it participated 
in the seizure of Camp Jackson, where, posted with Blair's regiment, and four 
pieces of artillery, on the ridge to the north of the rebel position, it guarded the 
main approach to it, and ijrevented the possibility of assistance being received 
by the rebels from St. Louis. This movement was effected with a celerity and 
precision that spoke highly for the degree of discipline to which the regiment 
had already attained. After the capture of this rebel force. Governor Jackson 
was known to be very active in the organization of another at Jefiferson City, and 
General Lyon apprehended that the intention was to make a sudden movement 
upon St. Louis. He therefore posted the several regiments under his command 
at the various avenues of aj^proach to the city, to guard against this movement, 
and also to intercept supplies and munitions of war which it was endeavored to 
send from St. Louis to the rebel governor at the state capital. In discharge of 
this duty. Colonel Sigel with his regiment was posted to the west of the city, in 
Liudall's Grove, and performed efiicient service there. 

Just previous to the battle at Booneville, Mo., rebel military organizations be- 
came very active toward the Arkansas border, and Ben M'Culloch was known to 
be in motion with forces for the assistance of Jackson and Price, then at Jeffer- 
son City. Eather to watch, perhaps, than to fight these forces, Colonel Sigel was 
ordered for active service in the extreme south-western part of Missouri, and left 
St. Louis with six companies of his regiment on the night of June 11th, followed 
on the next day by the other four companies. Colonel Salomon's regiment, the 
fifth, was subsequently added to his command, which also included the various 



FRANZ SIGEL. 73 

home-guard organizations of the district. Squads of men were detached all along 
the Pacific railroad, to guard the bridges, and keej^ open communication ; and 
from RoUa, the tenninus of the road, Colonel Sigel marched his force to Spring- 
field, and thence extended his line of operations westward to Sarcoxie. After 
the battle of Booneville, and when the forces of Jackson and Price were in full 
retreat toward tlic Arkansas border, all eyes were turned toward Colonel Sigel, 
then the only man in a position to intercept them, and news from his command 
was breathlessly expected from day to day. Throughout the state more was 
likely to be expected from him then than a calm review of his force would just- 
ify ; for his whole command numbered less than three thousand men, and his 
line of operations was nearly three hundred miles in extent. Yet the bulk of his 
force was gathered to the west of Springfield, for there was evidently the critical 
point, and toward that point Major Sturgis pressed hurriedly forward with his 
Kansas men ; and with his face turned that way, the earnest Lyon hurried the 
preparations for his march from Booneville. From Booneville, Jackson had re- 
treated to Lexington, and every day contradictory rejDorts of his movements 
reached Sigel. Now he had formed a junction with Price, with Eains, with 
Parsons, or with M'Culloch, and his force was reported at every number from 
six hundred to ten thousand. Moreover, this united force was represented at 
various times to be upon every road by which it could possibly reach the Arkan- 
sas line. Sigel's duty to watch or intercept this body with such a part of his own 
command as he could have at any one place, was thus no light one ; and still 
Lj'on did not move, and Sturgis was heard from very far away. 

Sigel, with only his own regiment, arrived in Sarcoxie on Fridaj^, June 28th, 
at five p. M., and there learned certainly that Price, with between eight and nine 
hundred men, was encamped to the south of Neosho, twenty-two miles west of 
Sarcoxie; and that Jackson's troops, under command of Parsons, and another 
body, under General Eains, were to the north, near Lamar. He determined to 
march against Price, near Neosho, and to attack subsequently those to the north. 
He accordingly marched from Sarcoxie on the morning of the 29th ; but, on the 
same morning, the reljel camp at Neosho was broken up, and the troops there 
stationed fled. Sigel then ordered the battalion of the fifth regiment, at Mount 
Vemon, under Colonel Salomons, to join him at Neosho; and as soon as they 
had arrived, he moved forward, leaving one company in Neosho, and on the 
evening of the 4th of July encamped on Spring River, one mile to the south-east 
of Carthage, the county scat of Jasper county. The troops had marched twenty 
miles that day. Colonel Sigel ascertained that Jackson, with four thousand men, 
was only nine miles distant, encamped on the prairie. His own force consisted 
of nine companies of the third regiment, seven companies of the fifth regiment — 

in all nine hundred and fifty men — with two batteries of artillery, of four field- 
13 



74 NOTABLE MEN. 

pieces each. With this force he moved, on the morning of July 5th, to attacic 
the rebels. Diy Fork Creek was passed six miles north of Carthage, and after a 
further march of three miles, Jackson's force was found drawn up in order of 
battle, on an eminence which rises gradually from the creek, and is about a mile 
distant. Jackson's front presented three regiments, one regiment of cavalry being 
on each wing, and the centre being formed of infantry, cavalry, and two field- 
pieces ; other field-pieces were posted on the wings. The force in this line was 
computed at two thousand five hundred men. Behind it was a large force in 
reserve. Colonel Sigel detached one cannon, and an infantry company, to pro- 
tect his baggage, three miles in the rear, and at about nine, A. M., opened fire with 
his artillery. The fire was promptly answered, and the rebel cavalry moved for- 
ward on his flanks, and threatened to turn them. Notwithstanding this move- 
ment, Colonel Sigel continued his fire until that of the cnemj- was sensibly weak- 
ened, when he ordered the guns to be advanced. Captain Wilkins, commander 
of one of the batteries, at this moment announced that his annnunition was 
exhausted. Both wings were also engaged with the rebel cavalry, and the loss 
of the entire baggage became imminent. A retreat toward Dry Fork Creek was 
accordingly ordered ; and at that point, after a junction with the baggage-train, a 
stand was made for upwards of two hours, and a heavy loss inflicted upon the 
enemy. Meanwhile, the rebel cavalry had completely surrounded Colonel Sigel's 
command, and formed a line in his rear, on Buck Branch, a little creek which it 
was necessary that he should pass. At this point a feint was made toward either 
flank of the enemy's line, which drew his whole force into the road, and exposed 
it to the fire of the national artillery. One round was fired, and the infimtry 
charged at double quick, and completely routed these two regiments. From this 
point the march was undisputed, until SigePs command reached a ridge to the 
north of Carthage, on the Springfield road, where the enemy again took position. 
Here a severe fight occurred, the hardest of the day. The enemy was driven 
from his position, and the Union force obtained cover in a wood, which rendered 
the enemy's cavalry for the time useless. After the men were somewhat rested 
in the wood, the march was continued to Sarcoxie, which they reached at two, 
A. M., on the 6th. Eeliable accounts represented the rebel loss on this day at 
three hundred and fifty men, while the whole loss in Sigel's command was but 
thirteen killed and thirty-one wounded. 

Soon after the liattle near Carthage, the whole Union force in Missouri sub- 
ject to the command of General Lyon was concentrated at Springfield. While 
they remained there, the three months for which Colonel Sigel's regiment was 
enlisted expired, and lie began to reorganize it for the war. Inspired by their 
whole association, and especially by the recent fight, with high admiration of and 
entire confidence in their colonel, six hundred of his men re-enlisted, and the 



FRANZ SIGEL. 75 

regiment was soon filled up by recruits from the neighborhood of Springfield and 
from St. Louis. When, in the beginning of August, General Lyon left Spring- 
field upon his first march in search of the rebel army, Colonel Sigel accompanied 
him with a battalion of the third regiment, was present at the Dug Spring skir- 
mish, and returned to Springfield with the general. 

Lyon determined, on the 9th of August, to attack the rebels in their camp 
on Wilson's creek, and with this purpose divided his force into two columns : 
the right he commanded in person, and the command of the left was intrusted to 
Colonel Sigcl. Sigcl's division consisted of a battalion of the third regiment, 
under Lieutenant-Colonel Albert; a battalion of the fifth, under Colonel Salomon 
— only nine hundred men in the two battalions ; six pieces of artillery, and two 
companies of cavalry of the United States army. It should be remembered that 
the men of the fifth regiment were on this occasion volunteers in a double sense, 
as the term of their enlistment had expired eight days before ; and that the third 
regiment was composed in a great degree of recruits who were imperfectly drilled, 
and had never been under fire. Moreover, the field-pieces were not served by 
practiced artillerymen, but by men taken from the infantry regiments. Sigel's 
command left Camp Fremont, south of Springfield, at sunset on the 9th, and at 
daybreak on the 10th was within a mile of the south-eastern extremity of the 
enemy's camp. Here the advance was very slowly and carefully made, and a 
large number of prisoners was taken before the rebels had discovered the prox 
imity of the Union forces. Four pieces of artillery were planted on a hill in 
sight of the rebel camp, a line formed to support them, and when the firing an- 
nounced that Lyon's attack had begun, the four jjieces opened a very destructive 
fire. Under cover of this, the infantry advanced, drove out the enemy, and 
formed nearly in the centre of his camp ; whereupon the artillery was also moved 
forward, and, after some minutes, the enemy was driven into the woods in confu- 
sion. In order to render all possible assistance to Lyon's attack. Colonel Sigel 
now advanced still more to the north-west — further, it is said, than had been con- 
templated in the plan of attack — and even received a very destructive fire from 
Totten's battery. Taking a position near a farmhouse, he formed his men across 
a road that he supposed the enemy would follow in retreat ; and meanwhile the 
firing in Lyon's direction almost entirely ceased, and it was supposed that the 
attack had been successful. This was the state of afiairs at half-past eight 
o'clock, when it was reported to Colonel Sigel by his skiniiishers that " Lyon's 
men were coming up," along the very road which he had supposed the rebels 
would take, and the infantry and artillery were notified not to fire on men com- 
ing in that direction. Lyon's men were thus momentarily expected, when a 
strong column of infantry appeared ; two batteries simultaneously opened fire 
on Sigel's men, and the infantiy also. Great confusion spread in the national 



76 NOTABLE MEN. 

ranks, and the cry was raised that Lyoa's men were firing on them. Order could 
not be restored in time to avail, and the rebel infantry advanced to within ten 
paces of Sigel's guns, and killed the horses. Salomon's regiment broke, and 
could not be rallied ; Sigel's also broke, but was partially rallied, and brought 
away one gun. Thus repulsed, Sigel could only make the best of his way to 
Springfield, which he did, and there foiTned a junction with the other' column, 
learned of Lyon's death, and assumed the command as next in rank. Prepara- 
tions were made the same night for a further retreat, and at daybreak on the 11th 
the whole command moved toward the Gasconade River, which, contrary to ex- 
pectation, was reached without a fight. But before that river was passed, some 
question as to his actual rank was raised ; and, though it was known that Sigel 
had then been confirmed a brigadier-general, the fiict that he had not received 
his commission was insisted upon, and the command was assumed by Major 
Sturgis, of the United States army, who conducted the retreat to Rolla. 

Franz Sigel received his commission as a brigadier-general of volunteers, 
August 17th. On the 19th he arrived in St. Louis, where he was enthusiasti- 
cally received by his German fellow-citizens, upon whom his recent achievements 
had made a great impression. He remained in St. Louis several weeks, confer- 
ring with the commander of the department upon the various measures necessary 
for the march southward of a large force, and left that city to take command of 
the advance — the largest division of Fremont's army — then posted at Georgetown 
and Sedalia. He arrived in Sedalia September 28th, and on October 13th 
marched from that place for Warsaw, " with suflicient force to open the way ;" 
passed the Osage at Warsaw on the 16th, and reached Springfield, to the great 
joy of its inhabitants, October 27th. Sigel's command was at this time in sjilen- 
did condition. To all the wants and grievances of his men he gave personal 
attention, mingled with them on the march and in camp, and cheered them 
through every difficulty. He was conseriuently a great favorite, and they were 
enthusiastically eager to follow him in the actual strife. But while the advance 
still remained at Springfield, General Fremont was removed from the command, 
his plan of campaign was abandoned, and Sigel with his brigade retraced his 
steps to Rolla. New measures were now inaugurated. General Hunter assumed 
the command, and we hear of activity in every part of the state, upon both sides ; 
and the rebels are roughly handled in several places ; Price again advances to 
the Osage, and again retires ; but in all these movements we hear but little of 
Sigel. And thus it continued for the remainder of October, for November and 
December; and while all was movement, life, and triumph around him, he fret- 
ted in compulsory inactivity, till it seemed that he was forgotten, or that there 
was an intention to ignore his past services. From this state of aflPairs a rumor 
easily spread that it was his intention to resign his commission, and general 



\ 



FRANZ SIGEL. 77 

credence was given to it. "For a long time," said one of liis friends, " things 
have looked as though the intention were to trifle with him. "Where he sowed, 
where he was first in the field and was the fii'st to strike, and while his name 
rang, like that of Mars, from every German lip throughout the Union, and helped 
to fill the camps, others are now to reap the harvest."' 

General Sigel did indeed feel that injustice had been done to him, and that 
he had been improperly interfered with in his command. Finally, it appeared to 
him impossible to retain his position under the circumstances and with a proper 
regard to his self-respect ; and on the 31st of December, therefore, he tendered 
his resignation. General Halleck, to whom the resignation was sent, at St. Louis, 
did not, it is said, immediately forward it to Washington. General Sigel, when 
informed of this, reiterated the tender, January 14th, and demanded the imme- 
diate dispatch of his letter to head -quarters. He was, however, compelled on 
January 27th to tender his resignation for a third time, which was not accepted. 




/^ ^/x^^ 



C^T'C^—^ 



REV. HENRY W BELLOWS, D. D. 



HEITRT W. BELLOWS, D. D. 

DR. BELLOWS has for many years been quite prominent as a writer and 
preacher, but of late he has risen to a new and national position as head 
of the Sanitary Commission, and of course as chief adviser in that great work of 
saving the health and life of our troops, which is quite as important as leading 
them to victory. He is still a young man, for one who has accomplished so 
much. He was born in Boston, June 11th, 1814, thus being under forty-eight 
years of age. He received his cariy education there, and completed his prepara- 
tion for college at the famous Round Hill School at Northampton, Massachusetts, 
while it was under the charge of George Bancroft and Dr. Cogswell. He entered 
Harvard College in 1828, and graduated in 1832. Spending the two subsequent 
years in teaching, part of the time in Louisiana, he returned to Cambridge to 
study theology at the Divinity School there, and completed his course in 1837. 
A few months afterward (January 2d, 1838), he was ordained pastor of the First 
Congregational Church in New York city, where he still continues to labor. 
His church stood first in Chambers street, where he remained until a new edifice 
was built for him in Broadway, where Dr. Chapin now preaches ; and in a few 
years, on account of the rapid change in the centre of residences, the present 
All Souls' Church was erected for him, at the corner of Fourth avenue and 
Twentieth street. 

Dr. Bellows has made his mark upon the age, not only by the boldness of 
his positions and the fervor of his eloquence, but by prominent acts of executive 
force. He was the principal originator of the "Christian Inquirer," the Unita- 
rian newspaper of New York, in 184:6, and for several years he was chief editor. 
He was the moving power in the rescue of Antioch College, Ohio, from extinc- 
tion, and in putting it upon a footing of usefulness and hope. He has been 
known to the country at large, however, by the original and eloquent sermons^ 
orations, and addresses, that have been put forth from time to time upon topics 
of popular interest. A volume of twenty or thirty of these productions will 
make an important chapter of our literary and social history, as well as an ex- 
cellent illustration of the many-sidedness of the man. The most conspicuous of 
these were his discourse at Cambridge on the suspense of faith, 1859, and his 
noted defence of the drama in 1857. This latter was really an act of great 



80 NOTABLE MEN. 

bravery ; and while his perfonnance was a profound and brilliant one, its heroism 
was even more memorable. 

Probably the most careful studies that he has given to the public are his 
lectures before the Lowell Institute, Boston, on the "Treatment of Social Dis- 
eases," in 1857. These lectures were very patient, practical, and sagacious, and 
undoubtedly prepared the author for his j^resent task as President of the Sani- 
tary Commission. The organization of this commission was in great part his 
work ; and they who were with him throughout the first struggle of its friends to 
secure to it a firm foundation, testify to the boundless courage, versatile talent 
and practical sagacity, with which he carried his point, and won over to his 
cause the heads of the nation, and discomfited the red-tape procrastinators who arc 
such masters of the art " How not to do it." His labors for nearly a year in this 
commission have been very great. He has conducted a large con-espondence, 
given many addresses, had personal interviews with important persons, travelled 
east, west, and south, to inspect the camps and hospitals in person, and actually 
rendered the service of a major-general in the coi-ps of militant benevolence. 
Meanwhile, he has kept his ministerial charge, and maintained the high intel- 
lectual and devotional character of his pulpit labors. 

Dr. Bellows is a versatile man, and, by a necessity of his nature, as well as 
from the opportunities of his position, he has taken a warm interest in subjects 
of the most diverse kind. Thus, shortly after astounding the old priesthoods by 
his defence of the drama before an association of actors, he came out with his 
famous discourse at Cambridge on the suspense of faith, and alarmed his old 
friends in freedom and progress with fears lest he were taking the back track, 
and would be soon at the Vatican, kneeling for the pope's blessing on his peni- 
tent head. But they who look to the springs of liis convictions discover the 
interior unity of the man, and can see that he may be a warm champion of a new 
and purer Church Universal, and be all the more ready to give the beautiful arts, 
the drama among them, a place within its benediction. We should, perhaps, be 
sorry to be obliged to reconcile all Dr. 'Bellows' utterances through a term of 
years with each other, for he writes and speaks from the spur of the moment, 
pushing his fiery steed on at full gallop, apparently vrithout looking behind him. 
Yet it is very remarkable how well his various positions illustrate and complete 
each other ; and even when he runs counter to himself in appearance, as in his 
attitude at one time as a teacher of transcendentalism, and again as a champion 
of an authoritative Church, it will be found, as in his recent volume of sennons 
of various dates, that his course is cumulative, and that he is travelling over dif- 
ferent parts of the same great domain, and now ranging in the open pasture and 
now resting in the safe fold. If, however, he had the same power in setting forth 
and urging a complete system of truth or practice that he has shown in dealing 



HENRY W. BELLOWS, D.D. .81 

with specific ideas and measures, he woiihl take a place among the great con- 
structive minds of tlie age. As yet he has not brought his convictions and 
powers to bear organically upon his work, and his brilliant thoughts sometimes 
flash more in lines of impulsive force, like the lightning, than shine together like 
the constellations. Yet it is not difficult to conceive of him as combining his 
views, experiences and plans into one method, and bringing his electric power to 
bear upon some great and permanent work of social or religious construction. 
He has some great gifts as a religious teacher and organizer; and if he lives 
twenty years, he ought to do something to meet the great want of our time, 
which he has so alily set forth, the want of a broad and effective and truly cath- 
olic church sj'stem, that shall be at once generous and strong. As it is, how- 
ever, he has done little in this direction ; and with gifts that in some respects 
rival "Wesley's or even Loyola's, he has been apparently little ambitious of 
church influence, and depends mainly uj^on his rare personal power as preacher 
for the success of his ministry, without an}- help from the methods of edification 
and administration which he so powerfully discusses and advocates as needed to 
unite and strengthen the generous minds of our day. As yet, he talks catholi- 
city, and practises extreme individualism. 

Dr. Bellows is an acute and original thinker, a shrewd observer of men, a 
lover of the best books, especially of the day, a ready and brilliant writer and 
eloquent speaker, a cordial friend, a humane and devout Christian. His main 
gift that marks him above most other men is a certain force of character that 
gives him direct influence over others. He has contemporaries more learned, 
more philosophical, more constructive than he, and quite as brilliant in style and 
eloquent in sjDcech. But no man can carry a given point where enthusiasm and 
moral power are needed so well as he; and he has a certain princely quality in 
his temper and jJi'csence that gives him remarkable sway. Were he not emi- 
nently public-spirited, and full generally of humane purposes, his tone might 
often seem presuming; but in leading movements he rides his hobby or his 
knightly steed not for himself, but for the good cause of patriotism, or humanity, 
or faith ; and while the superannuated dignitaries of the faculty, or the staff, or 
the pulpit, whom he starts from their sleep, may curse him for his insolence, the 
patriots and philanthropists of the land will honor him as a brave and sagacious 
reformer, and wish him God-speed in his campaign of mercy and heroism. 

These stirring times have evidently had a decided effect on Dr. Bellows' 

ways of thinking. He has long been a leader in the liberal school of thought, 

and has given a large part of his life to vindicating the rights of the human soul 

against ancient prescriptions and pi'iesthoods, dogmas and dignities. In this he 

has followed in the track of Channing, and sometimes he has approached the 

extreme individualism of Emerson, and tended to slight the power of positive 
14 . r 



8'2 NOTABLE MEN. 

institutions and constitutional laws. Of late years he has been more conserva- 
tive, and since his public position has connected him more closely with national 
atfairs, and shown him the difficulty of carrying out abstract ideas, and the im- 
portance of uniting men as far as possible upon some standard of authority, he 
has taken a bold stand with the constitTitional party. He is now, as ever, an 
emancipationist, but he trusts mainly in the power of social and moral causes to 
free the slave ; and, while favoring the rigid enforcement of law against rebe 
slaveholders, he is for leaving to all loyal states and men their full rights of local 
jurisdiction under the constitution. 

In person. Dr. Bellows carries dignity and suavit}', and has an air of experi- 
.ence and age beyond his actual years. At heart, however, he is very young, and 
can be as merry and amusing as any of the solid old fathers of the Church, like 
Luther and his compeers, who thought an honest laugh sometimes no unseemly 
preparation for a sincere prayer. Pei-ha{iP the doctor's prayers are the best thing 
that he does; and the fair inference -is, that if so much unction drops so readily 
from his lips, there must be a deep fountain within. It is well that he is thus a 
devout man, and earnest to subdue his will to the Supreme will ; for his temper- 
ament is of the impulsive, commanding kind, such as tends, not from calculation 
but from instinct, to take the lead, and to submit with great difficulty to any 
other position. If the army has thus lost a brave and somewhat exacting gen- 
eral, or the Senate a brilliant and imperious leader, the Church has gained a 
commanding preacher, and humanity a fearless and faithful friend. 




I.IKKT lOHS T^GHEBLh L t-A. 



JOHIT TROUT GREBLE. 

AMONG the events ■which give a peculiar sadness to the early history of the 
war, was the ill-advised attempt to drive the enemy from Great Bethel, on 
the 10th of June, 1861, and especially the fall of the gallant young artillery offi- 
cer, the sacrifice of whose own life on that occasion saved the main body of the 
attacking force from entire destruction. 

The memory of this brave soldier is now a part of his country^s inheritance. 
His name will hereafter find an honorable mention in every history of the great 
North American republic. The following brief sketch of his life will show that 
the deeds which made his end illustrious, even amid defeat, were not the result 
of chance, but the legitimate fruits of right principles and of long and patient 
culture. 

JoHX Trout Greble, the oldest son of Edwin and Susan Virginia Greble, 
was bom in Philadelphia, January 19th, 183-4. The traditions of the family 
were all patriotic. His great-grandfather on the paternal side, Andrew Greble, a 
native of Saxe Gotha, who came to this country in 1742, and settled permanently 
in Philadelphia, enlisted warmly in the cause of the War of Independence. He, 
with his four sons, joined the American army, and fought at the battles of 
Princeton and Monmouth. The ancestors of Lieutenant Greble on the mother's 
side were fi'om Wales. They settled in Philadelphia in 1689. Though belong- 
ing to the Society of Friends, and professing the principles of non-resistance, they 
also espoused actively the cause of independence ; and two of them, Isaac Jones 
and William Major, great-grandfathers of Lieutenant Greble, were in the conti- 
nental army. 

The earliest aspirations of young Greble, so far as they are known, were all 
in keeping with these early traditions of the family. Though living in a home 
where all the avocations and interests were peaceful — though delicate in physical 
constitution, and possessed of a singular gentleness of disposition and manners, 
which followed him through life — he yet among his earliest dreams fondly con- 
templated the career of a soldier ; and when the time for decision came, he made 
a soldier's life his deliberate choice. 

In tracing the history of one who has given to the world proofs of good- 
ness, wisdom, and valor, it is instructive and interesting to know the influences 
which contributed to the formation of his character. No formative influences 



84 NOTABLE MEN. 

compare with tlioso which cluster around one's home. A man's father, mother, 
lirothers and sisters, beyond all other human agencies, help to make him what 
he is. No one could have had even a passing acquaintance with young Greble, 
without feeling an assured conviction that the home which had nurtured him 
was the abode of the gentler virtues. Next to home, in its influence upon the 
character, is the school. In early childhood, Greble attended for a short time a 
private school kept liy a ladv, where he learned the tirst rudiments of knowledge. 
With this exception, all his education, outside of his home, was received in pub- 
lic schools; first in those of his native city, and afterward in that of the general 
go^•ernment at West Point. He entered the Einggold Grammar School of Phila- 
delphia at the age of eight, and remained there four years. At the age of twelve 
having passed a successful examination, he was admitted to the Central Higli 
School. There he remained another four years. Having completed the course 
in that institution, he graduated with distinction in June, 1850, receiving the 
degree of bachelor of arts at the early age of sixteen. 

Up to this point, his education had been conducted without reference to a 
military career. It had been his father's expectation, in due time, to receive him 
as a partner in his own business; but when the time for selecting a profession 
drew near, he was so clear and decided in his pi-eferences, that his parents wisely 
determined not to thwart him. The decision, when made known, created some 
surprise in the mind of the principal of the High School, between whom and 
himself relations of more than usual kindness had grown up. There was noth- 
ing in the ajipcarance or manners of the youth to point him out to the mind of 
an instructor as one likely to choose the life of a soldier; there was nothing in 
his disposition in any way combative or belligerent. He was never known to 
have a quarrel with a schoolmate. He was gentle almost to softness; pacific 
even to the yielding of his own will and })lcasure, in almost every thing that did 
not imply a yielding of principle. His military taste seemed to be the result of 
some peciiliar inclination of his genius, leading him, as if by instinct, to his true 
vocation. 

The Honorable L. C. Levin, at that time representative in Congress from 
Mr. Greble's district, having heard of the young man's desire for a military life, 
and knowing him to be a youth of fine promise, generously and without solicita- 
tion, tendered him a cadet'^hip at West Point. Having received the appoint- 
ment, he entered the academy in June, 1850, the very day but one after his 
graduation at the High School. The letter of recommendation which he bore 
with him to the professors of the academy is thought worthy of record here, be- 
cause it shows the impression he had made on the minds of his earlier instructors, 
and because he himself always set a peculiar value upon it as coming from one 
whom he had learned to love almost as a father : 



JOHN TROUT GREBLE. 85 

"Central High School, Philajdelpuia, June llth, 1850. 
'' To the Professors of the Military Academy at West Point. 

" Gentlemen : Mr. John T. Greble having been appointed a cadet in your 
institution, I beg leave to commend him to your kind consideration. As ho has 
been for four years under my care. I may claim to know him well ; and I recom- 
mend him as a young man of good abilities and amiable disposition ; punctual 
in the discharge of duty, and seldom off his post. In these whole four years he 
has lost, I believe, but two days — one from sickness, and one to attend the fu- 
neral of a classmate. He leaves the High School with the unqualified confidence 
and respect of every professor in it. 

" Your obedient servant, John S. Hart, Princifxd.'" 

The career of the J'oung cadet was not marked by any thing worthy of espe- 
cial record. At West Point, as at the High School, his habits were studious, 
while his amial)le manners and soldierly conduct won for him the friendship of 
his fellow-cadets and of his professors. After graduating with credit in June, 
1854, he at once entered the army, and was attached to the second regiment of 
artillery as brevet second-lieutenant. He was ordered first to Newport barracks, 
and shortly afterward to Tampa, Florida, where part of his regiment was sta- 
tioned, to keep the Seminoles in order. While there, he made the acquaintance 
of the celebrated chief Billy Bowlegs. Tlie latter took a great fancy to the young 
lieutenant, and, in testimony of his admiration, promised him that, in case of war 
between the Seminoles and the whites, the lieutenant should not be slain by any 
of his young warriors, but should have the honor of being killed by the chief, 
Billy Bowlegs himself ! 

The arduous duties detailed to Lieutenant Greble, in scouring the everglades 
and swamps in search of the Indians, brought on a violent fever. The disease 
not yielding to medical skill, he was ordered home, with the hope that a change 
of climate might eflFect a cure. From the effects of this illness he never entirely 
recovered. Having remained with his parents for a short time, and before his 
health was really sufficiently established to justify a return to active duty, he 
again took charge of a detachment of recruits, and proceeded with them to Fort 
Myers, in Florida, in March, 1856. He remained in Florida until December of 
that year, engaged in the same uninviting duties which had already iin|.ierillcd 
his health — searching swamps and everglades for stealthy and vindictive foes, 
who were always near, yet never to be seen by a superior force ; hiding them- 
selves in the water, with a leaf to cover the head, or wrapped up in the dark 
moss of a cypress or live-oak, ready to shoot any unwary white man who might 
be so unfortunate as to cross theii' hiding-place. The young lieutenant escaped 
at length the perils of this inglorious warfare^ and was transferred to a field of 

duty less dangerous and of much more imijortance. 
15 



86 NOTABLE MEN 

lu December, 1856, at the request of the professors of West Point, the secre- 
tary of war ordered Lieutenant Greble to report himself at the post for academic 
duty. He was made assistant to the Eevcrend Jolm W. French, I). D., chaplain 
of the post, and prol'essor of ethics. It became the dnty of the assistant professor 
to instruct the cadets in international and constitutional lau\ and in the constitu- 
tion of the United States. He ajiplied himself at once to the task with his char- 
acteristic constancy and zeal. Finding tliat the confinement and sedentary life inci- 
dent to his new duties were impairing his health, he twice inade application to be 
placed again in active service ; but the recpiest was not granted, and he remained 
in that position until the end of the term for which he had been ajipointed, a 
j^eriod of four years. 

The comparatively tame and inactive life at the academy was not without 
its compensations to the ardent yoixng soldier. In the refined and cultivated 
domestic circle which gi'aced the home of Professor French, the assistant found 
congenial society. On the 4th of August, 1858, he was married to Sarah B., 
eldest daughter of Professor French. Two of tlie happiest years of his life fol- 
lowed this union. In October of 1860, Lieutenant Greljle was relieved from duty 
at West Point, and ordered to join his company at Fortress Monroe. His wife 
and children joined him in November. In anticipation of their coming, he had 
fitted x\\> the homely apartments appropriated to their use, in the casemates of 
the fortress, with that exquisite delicacy of taste which was one of his jjrominent 
characteristics, so that the grim old walls looked c^uite gay and picturesque when 
the youthful family were assembled beneath their shadow. 

About this time a circumstance occurred, of no great magnitude, perhaps, 
but worthy of record as showing Lieutenant Greblc's generosity of disposition, as 
well as his sincere, unostentatious loyalty to the government. An officer, who 
had been his friend and classmate, had resigned his commission, with the view 
of joining the ranks of the rebel army. The lieutenant, hearing of this circum- 
stance, sought his friend, and remonstrated with him with such force and ur- 
gency as to induce a reconsideration. But a difficulty existed. It would be 
necessary for his friend to go immediatel}' to Washington, and perhaps remain 
for some time attending to this business, and he had not the means necessary for 
the journey. Lieutenant Greble had himself barely enough for his family ex- 
penses. Nevertheless he determined that want of funds should not ruin his 
friend, and occasion the loss of a skilled officer to the government. He was fond 
of books, of which he had a fine collection ; and he was about to add to their 
number a handsome copy of the "Encyclopaedia Britanuica," having already 
ordered the work. But he now countermanded the order, and, putting the sum 
which the work would cost into the hands of his friend, saw him oft" with joy on 
his repentant errand. 



JOHN TKOUT GREBLE. 87 

The domestic happiness of Lieutenant Greble was soon to be interrupted, 
never to be renewed. In April, 1861, the whole nation, at the call of their patri- 
otic President, sprang suddenly to arms. Large numbers of troops were expected 
at Fortress Monroe, and of course all the quarters would be needed for tiicir ac- 
commodation. Orders were given, therefore, for the women and children to be 
removed. On the 19th of April, Mrs. Greble, with her two little ones and nurse, 
left the fortress for Philadelphia. They arrived at Baltimore in the midst of that 
fearful riot in which the soldiers of Massachusetts and Pennsylvania were fired 
upon by the mob. All means of conveyance northward being cut off, the unpro- 
tected family made their way westward through Maryland and Virginia to Ohio, 
and thence, by way of Pittsburg, finally reached Philadelphia in safety. 

On the 26th of May, Lieutenant Greble was detailed with twenty -two regu- 
lars to proceed to Newport News as master of ordnance, and to instruct the vol- 
unteers, who numbered about three thousand, in artillery practice. An ofiicer 
on General Butler's stafl" in a letter written after Lieutenant Grcble's death, gives 
the following account of his conduct at Newport News : 

" I found him with his tent pitched nearest the enemy, in the most exposed 
position, one of his own selecting, living and sleeping by his gun — the gun which 
he used so fiiithfully a few hours later. His pleasant, open face, and kind, gentle 
manner, won me from the first. We exchanged many little courtesies, and I was 
his guest and the object of his thoughtful and kind attentions. I never met with 
a more high-minded, honorable gentleman. If, in this rebellion, we met with no 
other loss, one such man is enough to render it an execration throughout all 
time. He was intent on robbing war of half its horrors, and was deeply inter- 
ested in and co-operated with me manfully in plans for checking the depredations 
about the camp at Newport News. In this he displayed a firmness and moral 
courage that satisfied one of his manly character, and made a strong impression 
on the general. He spoke of the possibility, even probability, of his speedy fall, 
with perfect coolness, and seemed entirely prepared to meet all the dangers of 
sustaining the flag. I need not say to you how proud I should have been to 
have stood by his side on that fatal day ; to have seconded his efforts ; to have 
aided his friends in bringing ofl" his body, as I am sure he would have brought 
mine." 

The following extract from a letter to his wife, written from Newport News, 
Sunday, June 9th, the very day before his death, shows how calm and serene 
was his mind in the midst of the fearful excitement around him : 

'• It is a delightful Sunday morning. It has a Sabbath feeling about it. If 
you had lost the run of the week, such a day as to-day would tell you it was the 
Sabbath. The camp is unusually quiet ; and its stillness is broken by little ex- 
cept the oi-gan-tones of some of the Massachusetts men, who are on the beach, 



88 NOTABLE MEN. 

singing devotional airs. Last Sabbath tlie men were in the ti'enohes. To-day is 
their first day of rest. A great deal of work has been done during the past 
week, under unfixvorable circumstances — rainy days. With very little additional 
labor, our whole line of intrenchments will be finished. There is a little trim- 
ming oft' to be done, and a magazine to be liuilt ; a little earth to be thrown up 
in front of some heavy columbiads that have been mounted, and some store- 
houses to be built. But enough has been done to allow the rest to be completed 
by general details, and to give a chance for drilling. Colonel Phelps has ap- 
jioiutcd me ordnance officer of the post. We do not fear an attack ; the position 
is too strong. I hear that Davis has given the federal troops ten days to leave 
the soil of Virginia. The time is nearly up, but we are not quite ready to move 

away I hope that I may be given courage and good judgment enough to 

do well my duty under any circumstances in which I may be placed. As far as 
I can see, there is not much danger to be incurred in this camjiaign at present. 
Both sides seem to be better inclined to talking than fighting. If talking could 
settle it by giving the supremacy forever to the general government, I think it 
woidd be better tlian civil war. But that talking can settle it, I do not believe." 
Little did Lieutenant Greble suppose, while writing this letter, that an expe- 
dition was then planning, to move in a few hours, and that he would be sent 
with it. As ordnance officer of the post, and the only regular aitillery oflicer 
there, he did not expect to be ordered on an expedition, leaving the armament in 
charge of those not qualified to use it if attacked by the enemy. But such was 
the case. An expedition against Great Bethel had been determined on ; and, 
although well c^ualified to take command of it, he was not even made aware of it 
until a few hours before the order was given to march. When infonncd of the 
plan of attack, he said to a brother-oflicer : "This is an ill-advised and badly- 
arranged movement. I am afraid that no good will come of it. As for myself, 
I do not think I shall come off the field alive." 

Unwell and at midnight, and with these gloomj- forebodings on his mind, he 
did not hesitate, but with the promptitude of a soldier made preparations to obey 
the orders of his superior. The only available guns at Newport News were two 
small six-pounders, and for these he had no means of transportation. He suc- 
ceeded, however, in borrowing two miiles to draw one of the pieces, and he de- 
tailed one hundred volunteers to draw the other. With eleven regular artilleiy- 
men to serve the guns, he started oft' with the rest of the forces on the expedition 
at night, to attack an enemy of whom no reconnoissance had been made, either 
in regard to their force or position. 

The particulars of this ill-staiTed expedition are but too well known, and 
need not be repeat(-d here. Lieutenant Greble, being considerably in advance 
of the main bodv, with one of his guns, heard firing in the rear from the other 



JOHN TROUT GREBLE. ^9 

gun, which was in charge of his sergeant. Knowing that there could be no ene- 
my there, he galloped back, and found, as he had suspected, our own forces by a 
fatal mistake firing on each other. He immediately ordered the firing to cease, 
and when he saw the dead and wounded around him, exclaimed that he would 
rather have been shot himself than that such a disaster and disgrace should have 
befallen our arms. The result of this fatal error it was easy to conjecture. The 
enemy were notified of tiie approach of the federal troops, and, hastily retiring 
from Little Bethel, which it was intended to surprise, prepared for a vigorous 
defence of their works at Great Bethel. 

Order being restored, the attacking party again began to move forward. 
Lieutenant Greble returned to his gun, which was in the advance with Duryea's 
Zouaves. As they approached Great Bethel, a concealed battery opened fire 
upon them. Lieutenant Greble immediately unlimbercd his guns, and took 
position in the open road, about one hundred and fifty yards from the enemy, 
firing his guns alternately, and moving them forward at each discharge, until he 
was within one hundred yards of their battery. In this firing, be sighted the 
pieces each time himself, remaining as cool as if on parade. So accurate and 
effective was his firing, that he succeeded in silencing all of their guns but one, a 
rifled cannon. The Zouaves, and Bendix's regiment, by whom he was supported, 
were lying close to the ground in the woods, waiting the order to storm the ene- 
my's work ; but no general was to be found, to give the order. In the other part 
of the field our troops had been r(>pulscd, and were in full retreat. It was a 
critical and awful moment. There, in full view of the enemy, and within a hun- 
dred yards of their intrenehments, stood this young artillerist with liis two guns 
aad but eleven men, keeping the entire hostile force at bay, and by his cool intre- 
pidity and skill preventing a general rush upon the retreating ranks. For two 
whole hours he kept up his fire, and whenever the enemy attempted a sortie, 
drove them back with a shower of grape. One of his giins, having expended all 
its ammunition but a single discharge of grape, was ordered into the rear ; and 
the volunteers, who were to have been his support, were scattered by the enemy's 
grape and shell, so that he was left with but one gun and five men. Still the 
brave artillerist held his ground. Seeing the battle virtually lost, an officer went 
to him and begged him to retreat, or at least to dodge as the others did. His 
reply was characteristic: "I never dodge! When I hear the hugle sound a re- 
treat, I will leave, and not before." Not many minutes after these noble words 
were spoken, as he was standing by his gun, a ball from the rifled cannon before 
mentioned struck him on the right side of the head, when he fell, exclaiming, 
" O my God !" and immediately expired. 

Thus ended the earthly career of one of the most promising officers in our 
national service. His death, just at the time when courage, patriotism, and mili- 
16 



90 NOTABLE MEN. 

tary skill were most needed, was a public calamity, and was mourned as such. 
During the whole of the engagement, his conduct was the admiration of all who 
saw him. An of&cer, who was in a position to observe him, remarked : " lie 
kept up during the entire action a galling and successful fire upon the enemy's 
battery ; and, although grape, shell, and solid shot rained all around him, he was 
as quiet and gentle in manner and spirit as if in a lady's drawing-room." He 
iiever, imder any circumstances, ivas otherwise. 

Upon the foil of Lieutenant Greble, the guns were abandoned, and the whole 
remaining force retreated. But Lieutenant-Colonel Warren and Captain Wilson, 
rallying a few men, placed the body of the brave young officer on the gun which 
he had served so well, and Ijrought them safely of!" to Newport News. On reach- 
ing Foi-tress Monroe, the body was placed in a metallic coffin, which had been 
procured for the purpose by the officers at the fortress, and was thence sent by 
boat to his friends at Philadelphia. 

The narrative of this fixtal battle leaves no doul;>t that Lieutenant Greble 
deliberately sacrificed his own life to save the lives of a large number of his coun- 
trymen. His practised eye saw at a glance the position of afi:airs ; he saw our 
forces defeated and in full retreat, and an exultant foe eager to pui'sue and cut 
them to pieces. Once, indeed, they made the attempt. As soon as he saw them 
outside of their intrenchments, he quickly remarked to an officer of the Zouaves, 
'' Now I have something to fire at ; see how they will scamper !" Deliberately 
aiming his gun at them, loaded with grape, he discharged it full among them. 
So precise was the shot, that they instantly disappeared behind their intrench- 
ments, and were not seen a second time. Had Lieutenant Greble retreated, or 
" dodged," as he was requested to do, the effect would have been to intimidate 
the few troops that remained with liim, and to allow the enemy to cut ofl" the 
retreat. 

Lieutenant-Colonel Warren, who was with him in this action, bears the fol- 
lowing testimony to Lieutenant Greble's conduct : " I was near him during much 
of the engagement between the two forces, and can testify to his undaunted 
bravery in the action, and to the skill and success with which his guns were 
served. His efficiency alone prevented our loss from being thrice what it was, 
by preventing the opposing batteries from sweeping the road along which we 
marched ; and the impression which he made on the enemy deterred them from 
pursuing our retreating forces, hours after he had ceased to live." 

In his pocket was found a paper, written apparently after he had started 
on this ill-foted expedition. It was scrawled hastily in pencil, and intended 
for his young wife. It was in these words : " May God bless you, my darling, 
and grant you a happy and peaceful life. May the good Father protect you 
and me, and grant that we may live happily together long lives. God give 



JOHN TROrT GREBLE. 91 

mo strongtli, wis.loni, and courage. If I die, let me die as a brave and honor- 
able man ; let no stain of dishonor hang over me or jou. Devotedly and with 
my whole heart, your hushand. What a prieeless heirdoom must that scrawled 
paper be to the widowed mother and her babes ! A letter, also found in his pos- 
session, ran thus : " It is needless, my son, for me to say to you, be true to the 
stars and stripes. The blood of Eevolutionary patriots runs in your veins, and it 
must all be drawn out before you cease to fight for your country and its laws." 
So wrote a loyal father to a loyal son, not many days before that bloody 10th of 
June. Well might the native city of such a sire and such a son ask as a privi- 
lege that the body of the young hero be laid in state in the Hall of Independence 1 

Lieutenant Greble was buried in the beautiful Woodland cemeterv, to which 
place his remains were escorted by the city authorities, the faculty and students 
of the High School, a large body of military and naval officers, and an immense 
concourse of citizens. The character of this young man stands out so clearly in 
his life, that it needs no separate delineation. It was thus beautifully summed 
up on the occasion of his funeral, by his pastor, the Eev. Dr. Brainerd : 

" Few have passed to the grave whose whole life could better bear inspec- 
tion, or who presented fewer defects over which we have need to throw a mantle 
of charity. In his family circle, in the Sunday-school, in the High School where 
he graduated, as a cadet at West Point, and as an officer in the service of his 
country, up to the very hour when he bravely fell, he has exhibited a life marked 
by the purest principles and the most guarded and exemplary deportment. In 
his nature he was modest, retiring, gentle, of almost feminine delicacy, careful to 
avoid wounding the feelings of any, and considerate of every obligation to all 
around him. Indeed, such was his amiability, modesty, and delicacy of tem- 
perament, that we might almost have questioned the existence in him of the 
sterner virtues, had not his true and unshrinking courage in the horn- of danger 
stamped him with an heroic manliness. In tliis view of qualities seemingly anti- 
thetical, we discover that beautiful symmetry in his character which marks him 
as a model man of his class." 

Among the many official testimonials to the services and the worth of Lieu- 
tenant Grelile, none would seem to form a more fitting conclusion to this brief 
memoir than the following : 

" At a meeting of the officers of the army at Fortress Monroe, Virginia, on 
the 11th of June, the following resolutions were adopted relative to the lamented 
death of John T. Greble, late a first-lieutenant of the second regiment United 
States artillery, who was killed in battle at County Creek, near this post, on the 
10th instant: 

^'■Resolved, That the heroic death of this gallant officer fills us all with admi- 
ration and regret. Standing at his piece, in the open road, in front of the ene- 



92 NOT A ISLE iMEN. 

mj's battery, till shot down, he served it with the greatest coolness and most 
undaunted courage. 

^^ Resolved, That, while deploring liis untimely end, and feeling that his loss 
to his country is great, and to his famil}' and friends irreparahle, still a death so 
glorious can but tend to lighten the burden of grief to all. 

" Resolved, That, as a mark of respect to the memory of the deceased, the 
officers of the army stationed at this post wear the usual badge of mourning for 
thirty da3'S. 

"■Resolved, That a cojiy of the foregoing resolutions be furiii.shcd to his 
famil}^ 

"J. DuiiCK, Colonel U. S. J." 




MA.J. GEN.NATir.- PBAKKS. 



IIOK'YCHX. GF.PU'l'NAM 



I^ATHAN"IEL PREI^TISS BAITKS. 

AS bobbin-boy, muchiiiist, editor, lawyer, and representative, studious, ener- 
getic, and aspiring; as Congressman, and governor of his native state 
statesmanlike and comprehensive ; as major-general, clear, earnest, and practical 
— the life of N. P. Banks exhibits a career peculiarly American in every feature, 
and is well worthy of study by the American people themselves as a " repre- 
sentative life," and also by all who have any desire to understand that riddle of 
all foreign writers, "the American character." 

Nathaniel Pkentiss Banks was born in "Waltham, Massachusetts, Janu- 
ary 30th, 1816. "Waltham was even then a busj' place, and the roar of engines 
and the whirr of looms and spindles wei'e the familiar circumstances of daily life 
to its people. Nathaniel was tlie son of an overseer in a cotton factor}' ; and 
when he had years enough — a very few suffice — he became himself a " bobbin- 
boy" under his father's direction. Some few months' early attendance at a common 
school had instilled into him, however, a thirst for knowledge; and all his hours 
" not occupied in the factory were devoted to the grave and important studies of 
history, political economy, and the science of government." From the factory 
he went to the forge, and learned the machinist's trade. Literary aspirations 
came upon him in connection with the representations of a dramatic company 
formed among his associates, with whom he played the principal parts with great 
success ; he lectured before lyceums, temperance societies, and political assem- 
blages ; became editor of the village paper of his native place, and subsequently 
of a paper at Lowell, in which he advocated the principles of the Democratic 
party. Through this means he entered somewhat advantageously upon the field 
of politics, and received an office, under the Polk administration, in the Boston 
custom-house. For six years he was a candidate for a seat in the Massachusetts 
legislature, and was defeated every successive year ; but in the seventh year, 
1848, he was elected representative for Waltham. His first speech, delivered 
February 23d, 1849, was on the presentation of certain resolutions on the slavery 
question ; and its purport was, that the Democratic party, in the extension of ter- 
ritory, was not influenced by any desire for the extension of slavery. A wide 
publicity was given to this speech, and the Democrats of Massachusetts were so 
impressed by it, that Mr. Banks was recognized as a leader in that party. Honors 



94 NOTABLE MEN. 

followed fast. In 1850, he was simultaneously elected to the state senate by the 
Democracy of Middlesex county, and to the house by his constituents of Wal- 
tham. He decided to remain in the house, and was chosen speaker by a large 
majority i_in the first Ijallot. He held this position for two successive sessions. 
Upon the rolls of the house, for his first year in it, Mr. Banks is entei'ed as a 
machinist, but in the next year as a lawyer. 

In 1852, Mr. Banks was elected to Congress, by an affiliation of the Demo- 
crats of his district with the American party, or "Know-Nothings." Upon this 
canvass the American party was very largely in the majority, and Mr. Banks 
"avowed his sentiments freely and fully." In the summer of 1853, he was 
chosen president of the convention called to revise the constitution of Massachu- 
setts. Apparently lie had been mistaken in the Democratic party, for he soon 
transferred his allegia'nce to the new Republican organization. He was twice 
re-elected to the national House of Representatives, and served in the thirty- 
tliird, the thirtj'-fourtli, and part of the first session of the thirty-fifth Congress. 
He very strongly opposed the Nebraska-Kansas bill, and argued against it that 
wherever the government obtained the right to acquire territory, there they got 
the right to control it. Mr. Banks also came somewhat conspicuously before the 
country by the part he took in the debate brought on by a resolution in refer- 
ence to the society of " Know-Nothings," as to whether or no the pope claimed a 
temporal power over the members of the Roman Catholic Church. 

Upon the meeting of the thirty -fourth Congress, parties were pretty well 
broken up and complicated, and a great difficulty was found in the choice of a 
Speaker. For nine weeks the organization of the House was delayed by the 
obstinacy of party men. Finally, it was determined that the recipient of a plu- 
rality of votes should be declared Speaker; and, in accordance with this rule 
Mr. Banks was chosen to the position. Mr. Banks presided over the delibera- 
tions of the House with marked ability and fairness ; or, in the words of a 
Southern member, he "stood so straight, that he almost leaned over to the 
other side." On the adjournment of Congress, a vote of thanks was passed, 
upon the acceptable manner in which he had discharged the difficult duties of 
his jTOsition. 

In 1856, Mr. Banks was elected governor of his native state, and resigned 
his seat in the House on the 24:th of December. To his new position he did such 
honor, that he was re-elected in 1857, and again in 1858. During three terms he 
administered the government of the state of Massachusetts with eminent wisdom, 
and finally retired from that position crowned with the high respect of his fellow- 
citizens of all jiarties throughout the state ; a more striking example than any 
other chapter of our American history furnishes, of the dignity and honor to 
which native energy and genius may attain. 



NATHANIEL I'KENTISS BANKS. 



95 



Soon after the expiration of his third gubernatorial term, Mr. Banks deter- 
mined to abandon the field of politics, and with that view removed from his 
native state to that of Illinois, where he became associated in the conduct of a 
railroad. In that sphere he continued until the war actually broke out, when he 
again became "a public man." 

He was appointed a major-general in the United States army. May 30th, 
1861, and his appointment was confirmed by the Senate on the 3d of Au- 
gust. Major-Generals M'Clellan and Fremont were confirmed on the same day. 
Previous to his confirmation (June 10th), General Banks was ordered to the 
command of the department of Annapolis, with his head-quarters at Baltimore. 
In this command he superseded General Cadwallader, who was appointed to a 
division destined to co-operate with General Patterson toward Harper's Ferry. 
Upon General Banks's accession to the command at Baltimore, the treasonable 
element of the population there, while believed to be very active in the further- 
ance of schemes for revolt, was certainly very quiet. Butler had fairly scotched 
the serpent of secession in that city ; but under the lax rule of Cadwallader, it 
had revived. Yet the leaders were prudent, and the transference of the command 
to a new officer was a sufficient indication that the government was dissatisfied 
with the easy manner in which they had been dealt by, and they became cau- 
tious. Bat on June 27th they were surprised, and the whole people of the loyal 
states gratified, by an energetic act of the new commander. At three, A. M., on 
that day, George P. Kane, marshal of police of Baltimore, was an-ested at his 
house, and imprisoned in Fort M'Henry. In explanation of this act. General 
Banks issued on the same day a proclamation, superseding Marshal Kane and 
the board of police, in which he said : '• I desire to support the public authorities 
in all appropriate duties and in every municipal regulation and public stat- 
ute consistent with the constitution and laws of the United States and of Mary- 
land. But unlawful combinations of men, organized for resistance to such laws, 
that provide hidden deposits of arms and ammunition, encourage contraband 
traffic with men at war with the government, and, while enjoying its protection 
and privileges, stealthily await opportunity to combine their means and forces 
with those in rebellion against its authority, are not among the recognized or 
legal rights of any class of men, and cannot be pennitted under any form of gov- 
ernment whatever. Such combinations are well known to exist in this depart- 
ment The chief of police is not only believed to be cognizant of these facts, 

but in contravention of his duty, and in violation of law, he is, by direction or 
indirection, both witness and protector to the transactions and the parties engaged 
therein. Under such circumstances, the government cannot regard him other- 
wise than as the head of an armed force hostile to its authority, and acting in 
concert with its avowed enemies." For these reasons. Marshal Kane was super- 



96 NOTABLE MEN. 

sedecl and liekl a prisoner ; and Colonel Kenly, of the first Maryland regiment, 
was appointed provost-marshal of the city of Baltimore, ''to superintend and 
cause to be executed the police laws." Against this action of General Banks the 
lioard of police protested, and pronounced it ''an arl)itrary exercise of military 
power, not warranted by any provision of the constitution or laws of the United 
States." They declared also that there was a suspension of the police law, and 
that the men of the police force were off duty, and thus in retaliation virtually 
invited a reign of lawlessness. General Banks, in response to this protest, pub- 
lished a letter of instruction to Marshal Kenly, by which he required him " to 
take especial notice that no opinion, resolution, or other act of the late board of 
commissioners, can operate to limit the effective force of the police law, or to 
discharge any officer engaged in its execution." Yet the police board, though 
thus superseded and dissolved by the military commandant, ''continued their 
sessions daily, refused to recognize the officers and men selected by the provost- 
marshal for the protection of the city, and held subject to their orders the old 
police force, a large body of armed men, for some iiurpose not known to the gov- 
ernment, and inconsistent with its peace and security." For the preserva^tion of 
the public peace, therefore, General Banks caiiscd the arrest, on July 1st, 1861, 
of all the members of the police board, whose head-rpiai-ters were found upon 
examination to resemble "in some respects a concealed arsenal ;" and to antici- 
pate any action of their adherents, he at the same time moved a portion of the 
force under his command, hitherto encamped beyond the city limits, into the city. 
On the 10th of July, General Banks appointed a permanent police marshal in 
the place of Colonel Kenly, and, trouble being no longer feared from the seees. 
sion plotters, ordered the military occupation to cease, and the regiments to 
occupy their former positions in the suburbs. Complete tranquillity was thus 
once again established in Baltimore. 

Major-General Patterson, of the Pennsylvania volunteers, in command in the 
Valley of Virginia, was honorably discharged Ijy general order, his term of ser- 
vice being expired, on July 19th. On the same day, General John A. Dix, of 
the United States armv, was ordered to relieve General Banks in the command at 
Baltimore, and General Banks was ordered to assume command of the army 
under Patterson. His department was designated the department of the Shenan- 
doah, with its head-quarters in the field. General Banks reached Harper's Ferry 
and assumed the command of his department, July 25th. Tliis army, when the 
battle of Bull Run was fought, had numbered fourteen thousand effective men. 
But it was composed, in the greater part, of the Pennsylvania volimteers, enlisted 
for three months, whose terms expired about the period that General Banks was 
placed in command. He was thus left with only the skeleton of an army, to 
cover the approach to Washington most favorable for the rebels, and to hold in 



NATIIAXIEL PRENTISS BANKS. 97 

check all that jjortion of the rebel force which had not accompanied General 
Johnson to Manassas previous to the battle at Bull Run. 

Immediately on his assumption of the command, General Banks withdrew 
his trooj)s from Harper's Ferry to the Maryland side of the Potomac, and formed 
his camp in a strong joosition under the Maryland Heights, and near to Sandy 
Hook. There his force was rapidly organized, and increased by the addition of 
well-disciplined regiments, until it amounted in all to about twenty-five thousand 
men ; and in this position he continued, still occupied with the organization and 
discipline of his force, up to the movement into Virginia, March, 1862. 

Early in May, 1861, when the President had just called out seventy-five 
thousand men for three months, and long before the countiy at large realized the 
magnitude of the rebellion, Mr. Banks, then a simple citizen of Chicago, expressed 
a very strong opinion of the inadequacy of the measures taken by the government 
to put down the revolt. His words then spoken, and subsequently published by 
the "Chicago Tribune,''' are as follows: 

" This rebellion cannot be jout down by the force which the government has 
now called out. Seventy-five thousand militia will prove wholly inadequate to 
restore peace to the country. The government, and, he feared, the people of the 
loyal states, immensely underrated the strength and means which the rebel chiefs 
can command. This is a rebellion of the slave-power against a republican foma 
of government. That political element which has been strong enough to rule 
this nation for fifty years, cannot be reduced to subjection to the constitution by 
a few regiments of militia. Before this gigantic slaveholders' conspiracy can be 
crushed, it will tax to the utmost the power and endurance of the nation. The 
people will have to put forth an effort which has no parallel in modern times. 
He regarded this as the most formidable as well as atrocious rebellion which has 
occurred since the middle ages. The Sepoy insurrection was no circumstance to 
it, either in strength or wickedness. The Sepoys did not revolt for the pui-pose 
of strangling free government and setting up a slave despotism, as the authors of 
the secession rebellion have done. 

" The Sepoys were reduced to obedience in a few months by less than eighty 
thousand British troops. Four times that many will not suffice to crush out the 
slaveholders' revolt against the Union. If he was at the head of puldic afliiirs, 
he would call out five hundred thousand men for the war. He would charter 
every merchant steamer and ship fit for naval service. As soon as the army was 
equipped, and prepared to march, he would start one column of one hundred and 
fifty thousand men from "Washington to Eichmond. Simultaneously, he would 
move another column of one hundred thousand Western men down the Missis- 
sippi, to reach Memphis l)y the time the Eastern army got to Richmond. He 

would send a division of fifty thousand men from Louisville to Nashville, to 
17 



98 NOTABLE MEN. 

support and protect the Union men of central and eastern Tennessee, and tLe 
mountain country of Georgia. Alabama, and North Carolina. Before these col- 
iimns moved, he would fit out an expedition by sea, and place fifty thousand 
soldiers aboard the fleet, to hover along the Southern coast from Charleston to 
Galveston. This would keep the rebels at home in the coast states, as they 
would be in constant dread of a visit to every port, not knowing where the fleet 
might land the army. This force on shipboard, Mr. Banks thought, would com- 
pel to remain in tlieir own states four times the men in the expedition. It would 
be a movable column, which, by the aid of wind and steam, might be off Charles- 
ton to-day, and land at Savannah to-morrow. Hence its power and efficiency. 

"The remaining one hundred and fifty thousand troops he would distribute 
in divisions at Washington, New York, St. Louis, Baltimore, and other points, 
to act as reserves and supports wherever the exigencies of the campaign might 
most need them. He would keep recruiting offices open wherever a regiment 
had been raised, to fill up the vacancies in the ranks caused by battle or sickness. 
He would call upon the people to organize a national home guard of half a mill- 
ion men, to take care of traitors in their midst, and to put their shoulders to the 
wheel for a final effort, if it were found that the first half-million were not able 
to crush out the foul rebellion. 

"He calculated that Richmond, Nashville, and Memphis, could be occupied 
before the frosts of autumn, and that during the winter campaign the two main 
armies would move southward — one along the Atlantic slope, and the other down 
the Mississippi. By next spring, he thought, the stars and stripes might be 
waving over the Crescent city, and even Montgomerj^, the then capital of the 
rebels. 

"When asked how he would procure the money necessary to equip and 
support so vast an army, he promptly replied : ' Open a national loan, as the 
Emperor Napoleon did, and appeal to the jiatriotism of the whole people ; take 
all sums offered, from the widow's mite up to Astor's millions. The treasury 
would be abundantly supjilied by the subscriptions of tlie masses. Only let the 
people see that the government is in real earnest in its jiuqiose to put down the 
rebellion, and it will not call on Hercules for helj) in vain.' " 

Such is a brief outline of the plan suggested by Major-Gcneral N. P. Banks, 
for the suppression of the slaveholders' rebellion. 




N-1A.I. GKT\' C.l-'.o B M' ri.Kl.lAX. IT. S.A^ 







GEORGE BRINTOis^ McCLELLA]^. 

GEORGE BRINTON McCLELLAN was born in the city of Pliiladclpbia, 
December 3d, 1826. He was tbe son of a physician, and was descended 
from Colonel McClellau of tbe Revolutionary army. At tbe age of sixteen be 
entered tbe United States Military Academy at "West Point. In all tbe studies 
he maintained the second rank from the outset, and was graduated with tbe 
second rank in general merit in 1846. He was commissioned a second-lieutenant 
of engineers, July 1st, 1846. Congress, in the previous May, had autliorized tbe 
organization of a company of sappers, miners, and pontonicrs, and the recruits 
for this company were assembled at "West Point. Lieutenant McClellau was 
attached to it, and assisted very actively in its drill and practical instruction for 
duty. Captain Swift and Lieutenant Gustavus W. Smith were bis superior ofii- 
cers in the company, which sailed from West Point, September 24th. Ordered 
at first to report to General Taylor, the company went to Camargo, but was 
thence ordered to countermarch to Matamoras, and move with the column of 
General Patterson. Captain Swift was left in the bosjntal at Matamoras, and tbe 
only commissioned officers in the company were Lieutenants Smith and McClel- 
lan ; and great praise was bestowed upon them by the engineer officer for the 
amount and excellence of their work done in this part of tbe Mexican war. 

From Tampico tbe sappers and miners went to Vera Cruz, where, until the 
surrender of tbe castle. Lieutenant McClellau was engaged in tbe most severe 
duties, in opening paths and roads to facilitate the investment, in covering recon- 
noissances, and in tbe unceasing toil and hardship of the trenches ; and his work 
was always done "with unsurpassed intelligence and zeal." Trilnitc is rendered 
in all the official reports to the services of this company and tbe efficiency of its 
two lieutenants on the march to Cerro Gordo, at Jalapa, and San Antonio. Be- 
fore the battle of Contreras, Lieutenant McClellau had a horse shot under him 
by the Mexican pickets, and in that battle he served with Magruder's battery. 
General Twiggs, in bis official report, says: "Lieutenant George B. McClellau, 
after Lieutenant Calendar was wounded, took charge of and managed tbe howit- 
zer battery, with judgment and success, until it became so disabled as to requii-e 
shelter. For Lieutenant McClellan's efficiency and gallantry in this affair, I pre- 
sent bis name for tbe favorable consideration of the general-in-cbief " General 



K"> XOTABLE MEN. 

Persifer F. Smith, in liis report of all the actions at Churubusco and Contreras, 
says: "Lieutenant G. W. Smith, in command of the engineer company, and Lieu- 
tenant McClellan, his subaltern, distinguished themselves throughout tlie whole 
of the three actions. Nothing seemed to them too bold to be undertaken, or too 
difficult to be executed, and their services as engineers were as valuable as those 
they rendered in battle at the head of their gallant men." For "gallant and 
meritorious conduct in the battles of Contreras and Churubusco," McClellan was 
breveted first-lieutenant ; and for " gallant and meritorious conduct in the battle 
of Molino del Rey,'" captain; but the latter brevet, through some delicacy toward 
others, he declined to accept. In the battle of Cliepultepec he was one of " five 
lieutenants of engineers" who, in the words of Lieutenant-Gencral Scott, " won 
the admiration of all about them ;" and for his services on that day he was bre- 
veted captain. He was thus "on duty with the engineer company from its 
organization at West Point, in the siege of Vera Cniz, and in all the battles of 
General Scott's march to the city of Mexico." 

Captain McClellan returned with his company, which reached "West Point in 
June, 1847. In the next year he became its commander, and remained with it 
until 185L During this time he translated from the French the manual of bayo- 
net exercise, which has since become the text-book of the service. He superin- 
tended the construction of Fort Delaware in the fall of 1851, and in the spring 
of 1852 was assigned to duty in the expedition that explored Red River, and 
also served as an engineer upon some explorations in Texas. 

Secretary of War Jefferson Davis, in 1853, committed to Captain McClellan 
an important and difficult sur\-ey of the Cascade range of mountains on the Pa- 
cific, with, a view to the construction of the Pacific railroad. In his report the 
secretary says : " The examination of the approaches and passes, made b}' Cap- 
tain McClellan of the corps of engineers, presents a reconnoissanee of great value, 
and, though pcrfijrmed under adverse circumstances, exhibits all the information 
necessary to determine the practicability of this portion of the route, and reflects 
the highest credit on the capacity and resource of that officer." Besides the 
reports descriptive of the region surveyed, Captain McClellan also furnished a 
valuable collection of " Memoranda on Railways," the result of examinations 
made into the working of various railroads, to assist in determining the practica- 
bility of roads over the various routes. 

In 1855, McClellan received a caj^taincy in the first L'^nited States cavalry, 
and in the same year was chosen as one of three ofiBcers to be sent en a military 
commission to Europe. He sailed, in company with ILajors Delafield and IVfor- 
decai, in April, 1855, and proceeded to the Crimea and to northern Russia, to 
observe the war then in progress between Russia, England, and France ; and sub- 
sequently visited every military establishment of interest on the continent and in 



GEORGE HRINTON McCLELLAN. 101 

England. Aftei" an absence of two 3-ears, the commission returned, nnd tlie re- 
sults of Captain McClellan's observations were embodied in a report to the secre- 
tary of war, published in 1857, " On the Organization of European Armies, and 
the Operations of the War" — a work which established the reputation of the 
young officer as a scientific soldier. 

Upon receiving the offer of an important civil employment, that of vice- 
president and director of the Illinois Central Railroad, Captain McClellan resigned 
his position in the army, Januaiy 16th, 1857. His position on the Illinois Cen- 
tral Railroad he hclil for three years, when he was offered and accepted the 
presidency of the Ohio and Mississippi Railroad. This position he held when 
the war broke out. 

When the state of Ohio began to marshal its forces in response to the Presi- 
dent's call, McClellan was immediately chosen as the citizen of that state most 
fit to organize the volunteer regiments into an army. That patriotic state has 
therefore the honor of having brought to the front the man of the time ; though 
Pennsylvania, through her governor, had also called upon the j'oung captain, 
but vainly, to head her stout thousands as they were mustered for the war. 
Ohio's vohinteers, thanks to the efficiency of the man chosen to lead them, be- 
came at once an army, and were ready to win battles, while those of some not 
less patriotic states were still raw recruits. On the 14th of May, General McClel- 
lan was appointed by the Pi-esident a major-general in the United States army, 
and assigned to the command of the then newly created department of the Ohio, 
formed of the states of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, with his head-quarters at Cin- 
cinnati. Here he was still busy in the organization and equipment of the forces 
mustered in the various parts of his district, when the rebel forces from Eastern 
Virginia began offensive movements against the Western Virginians, who were 
faithful to the Union. Confederate troops occujjied Philippi and Grafton, and 
began to burn bridges ; and on May 25th, General McClellan ordered an advance 
against them of the first Virginia regiment, stationed at Wheeling, and of the 
fourteenth and sixteenth Ohio regiments, wdiicli crossed the Ohio respectively at 
Marietta and Bellaire. On the 26th, at night, the rebels fled precipitately from 
Grafton, and it was occupied by Colonel Kelly of the first Virginia, with his own 
regiment and the sixteenth Ohio, May 30th. Colonel Steedman, of the four- 
teenth Ohio, occupied Parkersburgh. 

Simultaneously with his entrance into Virginia, General McClellan, in a 
proclamation to the people of Western Virginia, said : "The general government 
has long endured the machinations of a few factious rebels in your midst. Armed 
traitors have in vain endeavored to deter you from expressing your loyalty at the 
polls ; having failed in this infamous attempt to deprive j'ou of the exercise of 
your dearest rights, thev now seek to inaugurate a reign of terror, and thus force 



102 NOTABLE MEN. 

yoii to yield to their schemes, and submit to the yoke of their traitorous con- 

s})iracy Government has heretofore carefully abstained from sending troops 

across the Ohio, or even from posting them along its banks, although frequently 
urged by many of your prominent citizens to do so. It determined to await the 
result of the late election, desirous that no one might be able to say that the 
slightest eftbrt had been made from this side to influence the free expression of 

your o;.)iuion I have ordered troops to cro.ss the river. They come as your 

friends and your brothers — as enemies only to the armed rebels who are preying 

upon you All your rights shall be religiously respected." To his soldiers 

he said : " I place under the safeguard of your honor the persons and property 
of the Virginians. I know that you will respect their feelings and all their 
rights. Preserve the strictest discipline : remember that each one of you holds 
in his keeping the honor of Ohio and of the Union.'' 

On June 2d, the Union troops at Grafton went forward to Philippi, on the 
Monongahela, twenty miles south of Grafton, which they reached at daylight on 
the next day, and attacked and drove out a body of rebels under Colonel Porter- 
field. Here they were joined, June 20th, by General McClellan, who on that 
day assumed command in jierson of the national forces in Western Virginia, and 
began more extensive operations against the enemy. Meantime the rebels made 
active preparations to resist. Henry A. Wise, formerly governor of Virginia, but 
appointed a general in the rebel aimy, took the field in the Kanawha region of 
Western Virginia, and, with the usual affectation of patriotism, called upon the 
people to " come to the defence of the conmionwealth invaded and insulted by a 
ruthless and unnatural enemy ;" while General Garnett, formerly of the United 
States army, occupied Laurel Hill and Eich Mountain, spurs of the Alleghany 
range, with ten thousand men. 

General Cox was sent against Wise, and General McClellan advanced in 
person against Garnett. Beverly, in Randolph county, Virginia, is approached 
on the north by a road from Philippi, and on tlie west by a road from Buck- 
hannon. Laurel Hill is upon the former road, and Rich Mountain upon the 
latter; and both roads, at the pi)int where they cross the hills, were obstructed by 
Garnett's intrenchnients. Garnett himself, with six thousand men, was at Laurel 
Hill, supjDOsing doubtless that, as that point was nearest to Philippi, the attack 
would be made there. But General McClellan marched from Clarksburg, on the 
North-western Virginia Railroad, advanced directly toward Beverly by the Buck- 
hannon road, and thus came upon the position at Rich Mountain. Colonel Pe- 
gram, Garnett's subordinate, held that place with four thousand men. At the 
foot of the hill, on the western slope, was a very strong woik built of trees 
felled from the hill-side, filled in with earth, and furnished with artillery. Dense 
woods encircled it for a mile in every direction, and it could not have been 



GEORGE BRINTON McCLELLAN. 103 

carried from the front without great loss. On tlie top of the mountain was a 
smaHer work, with two six-pounders. A sharp skirmish took place in front of 
the lower fort, July 10th ; and on the 11th, at daylight, General Rosecrans, with 
four regiments, was sent around the southern slope of the mountain, to carry the 
small work above, and take the larger one in the rear. After an arduous march 
of eight miles, he reached the summit and carried the work, with but small loss. 
Meanwhile, General McClellan below had cut a road through the wood which 
surrounded the rebel battery, and had arranged a position for twelve guns, with 
which to participate in the attack to be made from above ; but as soon as the 
rebels in the lower fort learned that the fort on the hill-top was taken, they aban- 
doned their work, and fled in every direction. By this action the rebels lost six 
brass cannon, two hundred tents, sixty wagons, one hundred and fifty men in 
killed and wounded, and one hundred prisoners. Only six hundred men of the 
enemy retained any organization, and with these Colonel Pegrara i-etrcated toward 
Laurel Ilill. G^eneral McClellan, by a rapid march, occupied Beverly. 

Garnett, as soon as he learned of Pegram's rout at Rich Movmtain, aban- 
doned his intrenchments at Laurel Hill, and retreated toward Beverly; but the 
rapid occupation of that place by General McClellan cut off" his retreat in that 
direction, and in great confusion he turned back and retreated toward St. George, 
in Tucker county, to the north-east of Laurel Hill. Thus ten thousand rebel 
troops from Eastern Virginia, Tennessee, Georgia, and South Carolina, were 
driven out of their intrenchments, with a loss to the Union forces of only eleven 
men killed and thirty-five wounded. On the 13th, Colonel Pegram surrendered 
what was left of his command (six hundred officers and men) prisoners, ixncondi- 
tionally. 

Immediately upon the retreat of Garnett toward St. George, General Morris 
was ordered to follow him, and General Hill was ordered forward from Rawles- 
Inirg to intercept his retreat. General Garnett, finding himself jDi-essed very 
closely by the brigade of General Morris, made a stand in an advantageous posi- 
tion at Carrick's Ford, on the Cheat River, eight miles south of St. George. 
There he was handsomely beaten by the seventh and ninth Indiana and the 
fourteenth Ohio regiments. General Garnett was killed, his army disorganized, 
and its whole baggage taken. Thus, by a series of brilliant movements, and in 
only twenty-four days after General McClellan had assumed the command, this 
portion of Western Vii-ginia was freed, and the army that lately held it became 
a demoralized band of fugitives. In recognition of this first considerable success 
of the war, both houses of Congress, on June 16th, passed a joint resolution of 
thanks to General McClellan and the officers and soldiers under his command. 

In an address to the "Soldiers of tl>e Army of the West," dated subse- 
quently to these' battles. General McClellan said : " You have annihilated two 



lUi XUTABLE MEN. 

amiies, commanded by. educated and experienced soldiers, intrenched in moun- 
tain fastnesses, and fortified at their leisure. You have taken five guns, twelve 
colors, fifteen hundred stand of arms, ami one thousand prisoners, including more 
than forty officers. One of the second commanders of the rebels is a prisoner, 
the other lost his life on the field of battle. You have killed more than two 
hundred and fifty of the enemy, who has lost all his baggage and camp-equipage. 
All this has been accomplished with the loss of twenty brave men killed and 
sixty wounded on your part. You have proved that Union men, fighting for 
the preservation of our government, are more than a match for our misguided 
brothers. Soldiers ! I have confidence in you, and I trust that you have learned 
to confide in me. Eemember that discipline and subordination are qualities of 
equal value with courage.'" 

Three days after the above order was issued, the national army that had 
been organized near Washington, under the- eye of the A'eteran commander-in- 
chief, was defeated in the disastrous battle at Bull Eun, and returned to the bank 
of the Potomac in a wild, disordered rout. Startled by this IjIow, the govern- 
ment first awoke to the great labor to be accomplished in putting down the 
rebellion. Eegiments before refused, and all now offered, were immediately 
accepted, and it was determined to add at least one hundred thousand men to 
the Potomac army. General McClellan was ordered to Washington, to take 
command of this new force, and of the departments of Washington and North- 
eastern Virginia. He left Beverly June 23d, and arrived at the capital July 
25th. His first order to the army was dated July 30th. In that he described 
the first practice he had observed "eminently prejudicial to good order and mili- 
tary discipline," and plainly declared that ''it must be discontinued." Officers 
and soldiers were therefore strictly forbidden to leave their camps and quarters, 
except on important public business, and then not without written pel-mission 
from the con:mander of the brigade to which they belonged. Washington was 
thus cleared of an army of loungers ; and officers and soldiers, confined to their 
camps, found time to learn their respective duties. 

On August 3d, General McClellan's appointment as a major-general in the 
United States army was confirmed h\ the Senate ; and on August 20th, by gen- 
eral ordei-, he assumed command of the army of the Potomac, and announced 
the officers of his stafl:'. Lieutenant-General Scott was retired from active service 
November 1st, 1861, and on the same day General McClellan was appointed to 
succeed him as commander-in-chief of the armies of the United States. Both 
before and after this accession of authority, he labored without intermission, and 
with noble earnestness and simple purpose, to prepare for a proper discharge of 
its duties to the great army called out by the government. His many judicious 
orders in regulation of the actions of officers and soldiers, and the system of 



GEORGE BRINTON MoOLELLAN. 105 

frequent reviews that he introduced, rendered it necessary that all shoiild woi'k 
to keep up with him, and gave some unity to the army. 

After the retirement of the lieutenant-general, the whole military operations 
of the country came under the control of General McClellan ; and, though it is 
not now possible to say how great a share we owe to him of the successes that 
crowned our arms in the beginning of the spring of 1862, yet by the admissions 
of the general officers most conspicuous in those actions it appears that they are 
all parts of one extensive plan of his arrangement. On March 11th, General 
McClellan took the field for active operations at the head of the army of the 
Potomac, and by the special order of the President was relieved from the com- 
mand of the other departments. 

IS 




I 5 ^-■t ^ 



t 




CUV U'll.l.l.WI SPK.VUK Of \l I 



WILLIAM SPRAGUE. 

WILLIAM SPRAGUE was born in Cranston, Rhode Island, on the 11th 
of September, 1830, and is therefore now thirty-one years of age. His 
father was Amasa Sprague. His grandfather, William Sprague, early engaged 
in cotton manufactures, and particularly in the business of calico-printing. He 
was among the first in the United States to attempt the latter. His works were 
erected in Cranston, about three miles from Providence, where he commenced 
with the most simple style of prints known as " indigo blues." "William Sprague 
was associated in business with his sons Amasa and William, both of whom, 
being brought up in the mills and print-works, obtained a thorough knowledge 
of the business in all its details. Their cotton-mills were in Cranston, Johnston, 
and in the village of Natiek ; but the goods manufactured there were quite inad- 
equate to famish the supply for their calico-works, which were enlarged as their 
efforts were successful, and the demand for their goods increased. 

William Sprague, the elder, died in 1836, when the entire business fell into 
the hands of his sons before mentioned, who then formed a new firm, under the 
name of A. and W. Sprague. The death of the fixther proved no check to the 
business ; on the contrary, the new house continued to enlarge their works, and 
to erect new mills. Several, of large capacity, were erected at Natiek ; and soon 
after, the firm purchased two other mills, belonging to C. and W. Rhodes, which 
gave them the entire water-power of that place. But the Messrs. Sprague did 
not stop here, for they subsequently erected additional mills in the villages of 
Arctic and Quidneck ; all were substantial structures of Ijrick or stone, of four 
and five stories, with the usual dwelling-houses for the operatives, thereby form- 
ing populous villages. 

Amasa died in the year 1843, leaving two sons, Amasa and William. The 
firm continued without change. The surviving partner, William, like most men 
of fortune and influence, was induced to enter political life. He first became a 
member of the general assembly of Rhode Island, and soon after was sent a Rep- 
resentative to Congress. Next, he was elected governor, and subsequently a 
Senator in Congress. The death of his brother Amasa, and his greatly increas- 
ino- business, obliged him to relinquish the latter office. He now continued to 
devote his whole time to business, enlarging and extending his works, until the 



108 NOTABLE MEN. 

year 1856, -wlien, after a very brief illness, his career was closed liy dcatli, at, the 
age of fifty-six years, leaving one son, Byron. 

At the time of the death of the first Governor Sprague, it was believed that, 
owing to tlie youth of his nephews Amasa and William, and of his son Byron, 
the great scheme he had laid out for erecting another cotton-mill, which should 
surpass any that the firm then owned, or any in the state, would be abandoned. 
Indeed, the business-friends of the young men strongly urged this step, under 
tlio impression that their eight large cotton-mills and extensive print-works 
would be as much as they could manage profitably. Most men, thus deprived 
of their long-experienced guide, and with a business so vast upon their hands, 
would gladly have reduced their responsibilities and curtailed their business; 
but our young men thought differently, even though (owing to the commercial 
crisis wiiich followed soon after, in 1857) the prospects were any thing but 
favorable. 

The firm was continued as before. William, the subject of this sketch, 
then but twenty -six years of age, determined to carry out all the plans of his 
uncle, in which determination his brother and cousin joined. The great cotton- 
mill at Baltic was erected and filled with machinery, large dams were con- 
structed, and one hundred dwelling-houses were built, involving an expenditure 
of five hundred thousand dollars. This mill is built of stone, is one thousand 
feet in length, five stories high, and contains eighty tliousand spindles. 

Having thus given a brief sketch of the history of the firm of A. and W. 
Sprague during the three generations they have carried on the manufacturing 
and printing business, we shall now speak more particularly of the subject of 
this sketch, the present William Sprague, governor of the state of Ehode 
Island. 

It has been stated that he was born in 1830. His education was confined 
to what could be obtained at the common school which he attended in his native 
village of Cranston, and in those of East Greenwich and Scituate, until he was 
thirteen years of age, when he was sent to the Irving Institute, at Tarrytown, in 
the state of New York, where he remained two years. Eeturning then, he was 
by his uncle placed in wliat is usually called the " factory store ;" that is, the 
shop attached to the calico-works, in Cranston, where goods of all kinds are 
furnished to the operatives. Here William remained one year, when he was 
transferred to the counting-room of A. and W. Sprague, in Providence, where 
he did the work usually performed by the youngest boys, although this labor is 
now performed in most counting-houses by laboring men. Here our lad opened 
the office, made the fires, cleaned the lamps, swept out the ofiace, and did such 
other drudgery as appertained to the station ; all of which he performed in so 
satisfactory a manner, that after three years so employed he was promoted to the 



WILLIAM SPRAGUE. 109 

place of book-keeper. No young man ever felt tlie importance of liis position 
more than William did, when, at the age of nineteen, he found himself book- 
keeper iu the great establishment of his father and uncle. But a few years ear- 
lier he was dealing out tapes and buttons, pins and needles, molasses, oil, and 
tobacco, to the crowds of men, women, and children who, during the recess of 
their labors, came to make their purchases. Now, he was occupied in keeping 
accounts which amounted to hundreds of thousands of dollars. The sales of the 
house were wholly of packages of goods, and their purchases of hundreds of 
bales of cotton, or of large invoices of dye-stuffs. 

William continued to fill the place of book-keeper, to the entire satisfaction 
of his uncle, for three years, during which time, by his constant attention, he 
made himself familiar with all the ramifications of their extensive business ; so 
that, when he attained the age of twenty-two years, he relinquished his position 
at the books, and assumed that of an active participant in the concern. Here his 
active mind was constantly exercised ; there was no portion of the business that 
did not come under his eye, and with which, from actual experience, he was not 
acquainted. Four years after (1856), his uncle died, when he was compelled to 
assume the whole weight of the business; and not content with this, as before 
stated, he finished the various projects which were commenced by his uncle. 
These were, the erection of their great Baltic cotton-mill, and the completion of 
the Providence, Hartford, and Fishkill Railroad, in which the firm were largely 
interested. It is now (1862) less than six years since the elder Governor Sprague 
died ; and, large as the business then was, the concern has, chiefly under the direc- 
tion of William, doubled its business, until it may now be said to be the largest 
calico establishment in the woi-ld. The firm now own and have in operation 
nine cotton-mills, the full capacity of which together is eight hundred thousand 
yards a week; while their printing establishment, when in full operation, is 
capable of turning out twenty-five thousand pieces, or about one million yards 
of prints, in the same time. It should be remarked that the fimi sell their goods 
through their own houses, in the great markets of New York, Philadelphia, and 
Boston, in addition to their sales in Providence. Such is, in brief, a history of 
the business concerns of Messrs. A. and W. Sprague. We leave this, and shall 
now speak of the political and military career of the subject of our memoir. 

Quite early in life, William manifested a strong passion for the military. 
When twelve years of age, he formed a company of forty boys, most of whom 
were older than himself; yet such was his influence among them, that he was 
chosen their captain. This was in 1842, a year memorable in the annals of 
Rhode Island as that of the insurrection, or, what is more generally known in the 
state, as the " Dorr War." A military spirit then prevailed throughout the state. 
Companies were everywhere organized, and constant drilling was kept up. This 

19 



IIU NOTABLE MEiN. 

was deemed necessary, not alone to sujipress the insurrection, but for protection 
from attacks from -witliout, which were threatened, particularly from New York. 
Our young soldier, not content with commanding his forty boys, resigned his 
place, compelled his youthful adherents to elect him governor, and then assumed 
to himself the appointment of his own officers. At this time the insurrectionists, 
under the command of Mr. Dorr, had assembled at Acote's Hill, in Chepachet, 
whither the state forces were advancing. Young Sprague, determined not to be 
outdone, also marched his band of young patriots toward Acote's Hill, which 
he might have reached in advance of the state troops, had not the reguhirly 
constituted authorities overtaken them when about half-way there, and turned 
them back. 

In 1848, Mr. Sprague, then eighteen years of age, joined the Marine Artil- 
lery Company, in Providence, as a private. This company derives its name 
from having been originally formed by seafaring men; and, although its organi- 
zation had long been ke})t up, the members scarcely drilled, or performed any 
duty beyond that of uniforming themselves and parading on public occasions. 
Mr. Sprague took a deep interest in this company, the members of which now 
determined to make it more efficient. He was soon promoted to the rank of 
lieutenant, and then to captain. In this position a wider iii'ld was opened to 
him, and, mainly through his exertions, the company increased in nundjers and 
efficiencv. In a few years he was elected lieutenant-colonel, and finally colonel, 
of the company. He had now reached the height of his ambition, the full com- 
mand of a militarv company, and determined to make it as efficient as possible. 
Neither his time nor his money were spared; and, as he indulged in no sort of 
dissipation, amusement, or extravagance, his sole thoughts, when not in his 
counting-room, were devoted to his company, which he succeeded in making a 
full battery of liglit artilleiy. 

In 1859, the cares of business had so much impaired the health of Mr. 
Sprague, that he felt himself compelled to visit Europe, for its recovery. But 
the earnest desire to witness the great events then transpiring in Italy, no doubt, 
had as much influence with him as the recoveiy of his health ; but in the desii-e 
to witness some great battle he was disappointed, as the war was over before he 
reached Italy. Nevertheless, he visited all the recent battle-fields, as well as 
those made memorable in the wars of the first Napoleon. While in Italy, Mr. 
Sprague became acciuainted with Garibaldi, and contriliuted liberally toward the 
fund then being i-aised for that distinguished patriot. 

After an absence of seven months in Europe, Mr. Sprague retunicd, with 
his health restored, and received a wai-m welcome from his numerous friends. 
He arrived early in 1860, at a time when the state of Rhode Island was much 
agitated by the contending political parties, the Eepubliean and the Democratic. 



WILLIAM SPRAGUE. HI 

The former, in uominatiug its candidate for governor, tad selected a gentleman 
whose political antecedents had been exceedingly ultra, being considered a 
strong abolitionist. This selection gave offence to a large majority of the Re- 
publican party, who thought that, in the then agitated state of the country upon 
the sla\'ery question, a more conservative candidate should have been selected, 
and determined not to support his nomination. A convention was accordingly 
called of the conservative portion of the Republicans, which nominated Mr. 
Sprague, who, though a Republican, and opposed to the administration of Presi- 
dent Buchanan, was very conservative. The Democratic party, anxious to defeat 
the gentleman nominated by the Republicans, readily came forward, nominated 
Mr. S^Drague, and the whole conservative ticket, except that for attorney-general. 
The election took jilace. It was the most warmly contested of any that ever was 
held in the state, and resulted in the choice of Mr. Sprague. The following year 
(1861), Governor Sprague was re-elected, with little opposition. The result was 
a most happy one for the state, for there was no man more competent than its 
governor to carry it so successfully through the trying scenes connected with the 
rebellion. Few men in civil life had had a better military experience than the 
governor, who had been connected with one of the most active companies in the 
state for eleven years. His experience as a business man, and his command of 
a moneyed capital, were equally important in raising, equipping, and subsisting 
the large military foi'ce called out for the defence of the country and its con- 
stitution. 

In February, 1861, while the Southern states, one after another, were passing 
ordinances of secession, and a determination was manifested to break up and de- 
stroy the Union, Governor Sprague visited Washington. He saw that a crisis 
was rapidly approaching in our aflFairs ; that the states then in rebellion might 
attempt to take the capital ; and that a large military force would be required 
there, at a very short notice, in order to thwart their plans. Knowing the patri- 
otism of Rhode Island, and of the desire of the people to furnish every aid in 
their power in the emergency, Governor Sprague called upon Lieutenant-General 
Scott, made known to him the excellent organization and discipline of the mili- 
tary of his state, and tendered to him a full regiment of infantry and a battery 
of light ari-illery, in case they should be wanted. In conversation with President 
Lincoln, he made a similar offer. General Scott expressed his fears that the 
insurrectionary spirit shown by the South might culminate in something very 
serious ; and further remarked that, shiiuld a war break out, and it should be- 
come necessary to put down the rebellion with arms, an army of at least three 
hundred thousand men would be required before a movement could be made 
against them with any prospect of success. On his return to Providence, finding 
matters growing worse. Governor Sprague sent Major Goddard, then a com- 



11"2 KOTABLE MEX. 

missioned officer in the cavalry, to Washington, in order to lay before General 
Scott a fuller statement of the military resources of the state. 

On the 11th of April, Governor Sprague addressed a letter to President 
Lincoln, of which the following is a copy: 

" State of Rhode Island, Executive Department, 

Providence, April 11th, 1S61. 

"Sir: At the time of the anticipated attack on Washington, previous to 
your inauguration, I had a messenger in constant communication with General 
Scott, giving him a minute detail of our military organization, and requesting 
him to make such demands for troops as the exigencies of the case should de- 
maud. 

" I should not now be correctly representing the puljlic sentiment of the 
people of this state, did I not assure you of their loyalty to the government of 
the Union, and of their anxiety to do their utmost to maintain it. 

" I have just returned from New York, where I had an interview with Gov- 
ernor C(jrwin ; and now take pleasure in saying that we have a battery of light 
artillery, six pieces, with horses and men complete, and a force of one thousand 
infantry, completely disciplined and equipped — unequalled, or at any rate not 
surpassed, by a similar number in any country — who would respond at short 
notice to the call of the government for the defence of the capital. The artillery 
especially, I imagine, would be very serviceable to take the place of a similar 
number rec^uired elsewhere. I am ready to accompany them. 

"That God will grant his protecting care and guidance to you, sir, in your 

trying and difficult position, and a safe deliverance from our unhappy difficulties, 

is the constant pi-ayer of your most obedient servant, 

" William Sprague. 

'■To tho President, Wasliiugton, D. C." 

The attack of the seven thousand rebels, under General Beauregard, upon 
the seventy famished men, under Major Anderson, in Fort Sumter, took place 
on the 11th of April ; and, as the news of this dastardly assault and beginning 
of the war of the rebellion was conveyed by telegraph to all parts of the Union, 
the people, with one accord, rose to arms. President Lincoln's proclamation, 
calling for seventy-five thousand men for the defence of Washington, reached 
Providence on the 15th, and was immediately promulgated. Governor Sprague, 
on his return from Washington, anticipating a call, had requested the officers of 
all the active military companies in the state to keep up their drills, and be ready 
at a moment's notice ; so that, when the alarm was sounded through the Presi- 
dent's proclamation, Rhode Island was ready to obey the call. On the 18th of 
Apri],_ three daj^s after the proclamation was published, the first battery of light 



WILLIAM SPR AGUE. 113 

artillery, of six guns and one hundred and fifty men, under Colonel Tompkins, 
newly clothed, completely equipped and officered, took their departure for the 
capital Two days later (the 20th), the first battalion of the first rep-iment of 
infantry, seven hundred strong, under Colonel A. E. Burnsidc, with provisions 
for thirty days, followed. Governor Sprague accompanied the regiment in per- 
son. The following week, the second battalion, under Colonel Joseph S. Pitman, 
took its departure. The entire force of this regiment and battery numbered 
nearly fourteen hundred men. The first battalion, taking a steamer at New York, 
reached Annapolis in time to aid in saving the Constitution frigate from falling 
into the hands of the secessionists, wlio had already arranged their ] lans for 
taking her. From Annapolis they took up their line of march for "Washington, 
and encamped in a beautiful grove near the city, which was occupied by the 
Rhode Island troops until the army of the Potomac advanced in March, 1862. 
It still bears the name of " Camp Sprague." 

After remaining a few weeks with the regiment, during which time he was 
assiduously occupied in making arrangements for providing for the wants of offi- 
cers and men, the governor returned to Rhode Island. During his absence new 
military companies were formed. Governor Sprague now took hold with vigor, 
and determined to form a second regiment. With this view, he appointed Major 
John S. Slocurn, of the first regiment, colonel, and selected the most competent 
men for the other regimental and the company officers. He visited their armo- 
ries every night, and by his presence, encouragement, and ardent zeal in the 
cause in which he had embarked, induced hundreds to come forward and join 
the ranks. The regimeut was soon filled up, and, after remaining in camp a few 
weeks to perfect themselves in drill and marching, embarked foi' Washington, 
accompanied by Governor Sprague. 

The governor remained with the Rhode Island troops most of the time, and 
accompanied them on their march with the army to Centreville on the 16th day 
of July, 1861. The battle of Bull R\m took jDlace on the 21st; and, as it is a 
matter of history, we shall enter into no details here. The two Rhode Island 
regiments, with the second battery of artillery, were among the foremost in tins 
memorable fight, and, as is well known, suffered severely. No one was more 
prominent in the action than Governor Sprague. ■ He was everywhere in the 
thickest of the fight ; and when his horse was shot from under him by a cannon- 
ball, the governor seized a rifle from the grasp of a dead soldier, and, rushing 
forward, took his place among the soldiers, encouraging them by his presence 
and braveiy. The two bullet-holes found in his clothes, after the battle, show 
that he did not shun danger. 

On his return to Rhode Island, Governor Sprague did not relax in the least 

in his efforts to rouse the people to action. The President called for five hundred 
20 



11-4 NOTABLE MEN. 

thousand troops, and he was determined that his state should famish her full 
quota. Enlistments for the new regiments of infantry and additional batteries 
of light artillery were pressed with vigor. The latter arm of the service having 
proved so effective in the battle of Bull Run, the governor now dctennined to 
raise a full regiment of ten batteries of. six rifled guns, of one hundred and fifty 
men each, which have all gone forward. It is unnecessary to enter into details 
of these proceedings ; we simply record the result. A third regiment of infantry, 
under Colonel N. W. Brown, went forward, and is now at Port Royal. A fourth, 
commanded by Colonel I. P. Rodman, and the first battalion of the fifth, ac- 
companied General Burnside's expedition, and were engaged in the Vjattles of 
Roanoke Island and Newbern. Besides these, there has been raised a regiment 
of cavalry, of which Colonel R. B. Lawton is in command. Other batteries of 
artillery are yet to be formed. The quota of five hundred thousand troops 
which Rhode Island is required to furnish is four thousand and fifty-seven. She 
has now (January, 1862) in the field about five thousand five hundred men, and is 
still sending on more to the seat of war. She has also furnished to the United 
States navy five hundred and eighty and to the regular army four hundred and 
twenty-five men. It may be added that Rhode Island also has a well-drilled 
home guard, four thousand strong. 

Space does not admit of enlarging upon the family of Governor Sprague. 
His ancestor, Jonathan Sprague, is first noticed in Rhode Island history in 1681. 
He was for many years a member of the general assembly, and in 1703 was 
chosen speaker. By intermarriage the family is connected with Roger Williams, 
the founder of the state. The Rev. Dr. William B. Sprague, of Albany, and 
Charles Sprague, the well-known poet of Boston, are descendants of the Spragues 
of Rhode Island. 

As an evidence that those who have most to do generally find time to do 
more, it is proper to state that Governor Sprague has other weighty cares and 
responsibilities besides those named, all of which he promptly attends to. As 
president of the Globe Bank, in Pro^^ deuce, where his firm are large stockhold- 
ere, he is always at the board meetings, and scrutinizes every piece of paper pre- 
sented for discount ; and is as fiimiliar with the standing of the business commu- 
nity as any of the directors. He is president of a Savings Bank, and a director 
in three of the Insurance Companies in Providence. Besides these, the governor 
is one of the board of visitors to the " Butler Hospital for the Insane," where he 
performs the regular round of duties required of every visitor, with as much care 
as he attends to the business of his counting-room. 



HEKRY B. HIDDE]^. 

THERE are poets who have produced but a single poem, orators of a single 
speech, and generals of a solitary battle ; yet they are memorable. The 
conspicuous bravery which shone out with such lustre in the gallant charge of 
Lieutenant Hidden at Sangster's Station, was the single act in the brief career of 
this son of New York, but it was one which a grateful country will not let die. 
We need not apologize that he did not do more. The glorious privilege of dying 
for one's countiy is accorded to but few of only twenty -three years, and the legacy 
of such a death will be the inspiration of bards, illustration for orators, a theme 
for artists, and an example for heroes. 

Henry B. Hidden was born in the city of New Yoi-k. He was the young- 
est son of Enoch and Louisa Hidden. His father was of New-England birth ; 
his mother was born in New York, and a descendant from one of its oldest fami- 
lies — her great-grandfather, Thomas Ivers, being one of the "Tea-Party" in New 
York, and one of the committee of one hundred appointed by the people, May 
1st, 1775. 

It was truly said by Rev. Dr. Asa D. Smitli, in his touching eulogy of the 
deceased, that "he was always a peculiar boy." In fact, he never passed through 
that phase of life so apt to be one of trial and uneasiness to parents, so disagree- 
able to acquaintances, so dangerous yet all-important to the individual himself- — 
the interval between childhood and manhood, which may be called boyhood. 
Harry seemed to have overleaped this period, and assumed at otice the character- 
istics of maturer life. And yet there was no assumption ; he but eschewed the 
vices and aimed for the noble attributes of a man. Those who were familiar 
with him were not astonished at his death, for he seemed to be always emulous 
of commendable distinction ; and they knew that he was anxious to find an 
opportunity to tread the path of honor, beset as it might be with dangers. 

The most marked personal characteristic of young Hidden was his influence 
over all around him. When a boy at school, his teachers used to say to him : 
" It is all-important that you should be good, for all the boys will do as you 
say." This animal magnetism was conspicuous throughout his life. It was 
seen in his regiment, where the men loved him devotedly, would follow him to 
the death, and mourned his loss with the Intter tears wrung so hardly from the 



116 XOTABLE MEN. 

eyes of stern manhood. This species of magnetic attraction, which has charac- 
terized many distinguished men, would doubtless have been signally manifested 
in the after-life of young Hidden, had not his career been so speedily closed. 
This ascendency over schoolmates, associates, an<l strangers, was not obtained bv 
any arrogant claim ; for, on the contrary, Hiddtni was singularly modest and 
rather retiring. lie seemed not to desire, but rather to shrink from, conspicu- 
ousness, placing a modest estimate upon his own al)ilities. Earlv at the fjrma- 
tion of his regiment, he might easily have had a captaincy, but intentionally 
avoided it, feeling his deficiency ; and yet, by a week's longer life, he would 
have attained it by promotion. 

Henry was educated with a view to a mercantile life, in several of the best 
schools in and around New York. He had, however, but barely entered upon 
the initiative, when, a favorable opportunity otfering, he spent some six or eight 
months in the counting-room of a leading merchant in Havana, perfecting him- 
self in the Spanish language, the main object of his going thither, and obtaining 
a knowledge of men and things which would have been of much service in after- 
life. On returning to his home, his ojiportunities for improvement were further 
advanced by the occasion of the sailing of the celebrated steam-fi'igate The Gen- 
eral Admiral for Russia, in which he accompanied his brother-in-law, William H 
Webb, the builder, to St. Petersburg, and afterward, during more than a year's 
travel over the principal states and kingdoms of Europe. Returning, he settled 
himself down to labor, not enervated l:)y his life of ease and pleasure, entering a 
commercial house, with a certainty of speedy advance before him. This was 
not to be. With war's alarms, and treason in our midst. Hidden, or as he was 
soon called by his men, "gallant Harry," although before without any martial 
projDensities, entered at once into the plan for getting up a cavalry corps in this 
city. The toils, fatigues, anxieties, and vexatious delays, which ushered into 
existence the Lincoln Cavalry, were felt by none more tlian by him. But it was 
a proud day for him when, mounted upon his thorough-bred stallion Chance, he 
accompanied his regiment to the steamer that took them from the city en route 
for Washington. 

Six months or more in camp, never weary of drill, never fatigued with the 
tiresome delay in his mud-beleagured quarters, he waited, and the physical and 
moral growth of the man was consummated. His added inch of stature, and his 
increasing weight, made his five feet ten symmetrical, graceful, and enduring. 
Genial and friendly with all, his manner took a more thoughtful tone, and he 
seemed to see life in more serious aspects. 

Finally, came the moment for action. The roads are again passable, and 
the long-expected advance is ordered. Right gladly did this incipient hero join 
his company on his first tour of duty. But two days after leaving the camp, 



HENRY B. HIDDEN. 117 

spent in scouting tbrougli tlie woods, the morning of Sunda}', March Otl:, arrives. 
A summons from General Kearney orders Captain Stearns to detail his first- 
lieutenant, with five picked men, to unite with others for special duty. Ee- 
porting himself to the general, he is ordered to attend him as escort. "We can 
almost feel how that young heart beats and his handsome features glow with 
enthusiasna with this unexpected honor. A few hours pass, when, from the 
knoll upon which they are standing, three men are seen upon the edge of the 
wood, about a quarter of a mile below them. General Kearney orders his guard 
to advance upon them " as foragers," with the design of capturing them. As the 
little baud approach the spot, the men retreat ; and suddenly a corps of infantry, 
one hundred and fifty or more, are disclosed in battle array. The guard have 
now proceeded too far, although to go on against such odds seems madness ; but 
a safe retreat is impossible. "Will you follow me, men?" says the lieutenant, 
whose mind comprehends the danger, and is soon made up. " To the death !"' 
is the unanimous reply. Dividing his little corps into two bands, Harry gives 
the order to charge, and these fourteen men are launched against the opposing 
hundred and fifty. Such a gallant dash is rarely seen. The barrels of the re- 
volvers are soon emptied, and the swords cut a way through the yielding ranks. 
The rebels are dispersed : some, firing, flee ; some throw down their arms ; some 
cry for mercy, as the gallant band, uniting in their rear, gather in the prisoners, 
which equal themselves in numljer. As they return, attention is directed to one 
lying slightly wounded, and the lieutenant tui-ns toward him to cut him down 
with his sabre ; but he is arrested by the one next him, who saj'S, " He has got 
enough, and we needn't trouble about him." So they left him, but had hardly 
rode on a dozen steps, when he whom they had just spared raises himself from 
the ground, and speeds the fatal bullet, which enters the back of the gallant liero 
in the flush of his maiden victory, and, going out under the chin, carries away 
with it the life of one so beautiful, so good, so noble. 

He died without a struggle ; for wlien Lieutenant Alexander, advancing to 
his support with a similar corps arrived, he was found about six yards from the 
spot where he was struck, lying upon his face as he fell, and with his blood- 
stained sword in his hand. Tenderly was he raised, and for the last time placed 
upon his own horse, by the men just now so fierce in battle, and borne to the 
camp. Here the regrets of his command, weeping like children, are mingled 
with execrations against him who had made sucli a cowardly assassination after 
the fight was over; and they promise that, in any future meeting with the First 
Maryland volunteers, their chivalrous leader will not be forgotten. 

That bright morning was a sad day for the friends at home ; and the tele- 
gram, briefly stating that " Harry B. Hidden was killed this morning, gallantly 
fighting for his country,"' was almost another bullet in the heart of his bereaved 



118 NOTABLE MEN. 

parents. Soon the daily press told how brave a youth had given his all for his 
country. General Kearney's order for the day, the eulogistic letters from his 
colonel, and the resolutions of condolence from the officers of his mess, attested 
to his merit ; while later, the muffled drum, the solemn march of the militarj^,- 
the hearse with its nodding plumes and flag-enshrouded coffin, his champing 
steed restively following with empty saddle and draped spixrs, slowly pass fi-om 
the funeral rites in the crowded church, through the saddened throngs which 
line the streets, to his last resting-place, amid the umbrageous groves of Green- 
wood. 

" Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori." 



|^j95| 



a^ '^ 







'^?r/// ry/ 



MA.) (:KN. .JOHN c: F'KI-'.MON'j', 



JOHK" CHARLES FREMOI^T. 

TKE subject of this sketch was born at Savannah, in Georgia, January 21st, 
1813. His father was a native of Lyons, and left France for St. Domingo 
in 1798 ; but the ship in which he sailed, captured by an English cruiser, was 
taken into the British West Indies, whence the captive made his way to Norfolk, 
in Virginia. There he taught his native language for a livelihood, and eventu- 
ally married the daughter of Colonel Thomas Whiting, of Gloucester county, a 
gentleman related by marriage to the family of Washington. 

At the age of fifteen, young Fremont entered Charleston (S. C. ) College. For 
some time he made rapid progress in his studies ; but he fell in love, became inat- 
tentive to his collegiate duties, was frequently absent from his class, and for that 
cause was finally expelled. From his seventeenth to his twentieth year he was 
employed as an instructor in mathematics in various schools in Charleston, and 
as a practical surveyor. In 1833, he was appointed a teacher of mathematics on 
board the United States sloop-of-war Natchez, and made a cruise of two years 
and a half in that vessel. On his return, he declined the appointment of professor 
of mathematics in the navy, was employed as an engineer on the railway line 
between Augusta and Charleston, and subsequently, and until the flill of 1837, as 
an assistant engineer upon the preliminary survey for a railway between Charles- 
ton and Cincinnati. Fremont's part of the line lay in the mountain-passes be- 
tween South Carolina and Tennessee. This work was suspended in the autumn, 
and the winter of 1837 was spent in making, with Captain Williams, of the 
United States army, a military reconnoissance of the mountains of Georgia 
North Carolina, and Tennessee — a work performed in anticipation of hostilities 
with the Cherokee Indians. In the spring of 1838, he accompanied M. Nicollet, 
a man of science, employed by the United States government, to the upper Mis- 
sissippi, and served as his principal assistant in the exploration of that year, and 
also in that of the next year, of the country between the Missouri and the British 
line ; and afterward assisted in the preparation of the maps and report of the ex- 
ploration. While upon this expedition, he was appointed, February 7th, 1838, 
a second- lieutenant in the corps of topographical engineers. 

Before Nicollet's maps and report were completed, Fremont was ordered to 
explore the Kiver Des Moines. After the execution of this service he returned 



1-0 NOTABLE MEN. 

to Washington, and in October, 1841, manied Jessie, tlie daughter of Thomas 
H. Benton, then United States Senator from ]\rissouri. 

"While employed under Nicollet, Fremont had conceived the design of ex- 
ploring the Far "West, to facilitate its settlement, and open communication with 
the Pacific. As the first step toward this great labor, he applied for and obtained, 
in 1842, an order to explore the Missouri frontier as far as the Wind Eiver Peak 
of the Rocky Mountains. He left the mouth of the Kansas River, June 10th, 
proceeded up the Platte River and its tributaries, through bands of hostile In- 
dians, to the South Pass, which was carefully examined. Thence he proceeded 
to the Wind River Mountains, the loftiest peak of which he ascended, and on his 
return reached the mouth of the Kansas October 10th. His report was laid be- 
fore Congress in the winter of 1842-3. Humboldt praised it, and the London 
" Athenasum" pronounced it one of the most perfect productions of its kind. 

Early in the spring of 1843, Fremont set out upon a second expedition, 
from which he did not return until August, 1844. His object in this expedition 
was to complete the survey of the line of communication between the state of 
Missouri and the tide-water region of the Columbia, which had never been exam- 
ined or mal^ped by any geographer; and to explore the vast region to the south 
of the Columbia — the whole western slope of the Rocky Mountain.'; — ^a territory 
almost unknown. He set out from Kansas City May 29th, and came in sight of 
Salt Lake Sep)tember 6th. Eight months later, he reached Utah Lake, the south- 
em limb of the Great Salt Lake, having completed a circuit of twelve degrees' 
diameter north and south, and ten degrees east and west. In the maps and report 
of this expedition, the Great Salt Lake, the LTtah Lake, the Little Salt Lake, the 
Klamath Lake, the Sierra Nevada, the valleys of the Sacramento and San Joa- 
quin, the Great Basin, the Three Parks — nearly all then unknown and desert 
regions, now the homes of multitudes of people — were revealed to the world. 
Nothing in the annals of human adventure can surpass the fortitude with which 
Fremont and his comrades met the hardships and dangers of this vast exploration. 
For this service he was breveted first-lieutenant and captain in January, 1845. 

Captain Fremont set out on his third expedition in the spring of 1845. He 
crossed the Great Basin from the southern extremity of the Great Salt Lake, and 
reached California in December. From the authorities of that province he ob- 
tained permission to go to the valley of the San Joaquin, where he desired to 
procure supplies, and to recruit his force. At that time the relations between 
the United States and Mexico were critical ; and, though the leave was granted 
for him to continue his exjjloration, it was almost immediately revoked, and he 
was 2:ieremptorily ordered to quit the country. In the condition of his men, this 
was impossible ; and General Castro, the governor, mustered the forces of the 
province against him. Therefore, to be in a better condition to repel any attack. 



JOHN CHARLES FREMONT. 121 

Fremont took up a position on the Hawk's Peak, about thirty miles from Mon- 
terey, intrenched it, and with his command of sixty-two men awaited the Mexi- 
cans. Here he remained from the 7th till the 10th of March. General Castro 
did not approach, and Fremont abandoned his position, and commenced his 
march for Oregon. Several of his men, who desired to remain in the country, 
were discharged from service on the march. About the middle of May, 1846, 
when he had reached the northern shore of the great Tlamath Lake, and was 
within the limits of Oregon ten-itory, he found his further progress in that direc- 
tion obstructed by impassable snowy mountains, and by hostile Indians, who had 
been excited against him by General Castro ; and Castro, he learned, was still 
advancing against him ; and that the American settlers in the valley of the Sac- 
ramento were comprehended in the scheme of destruction meditated against his 
own party. At the same time, a messenger reached him with dispatches from 
Washington, in which he was directed to watch over the interests of the United 
States in California, as there was reason to apprehend that the province would 
be transferred to Great Britain. " Under these circumstances," says Secretary 
Marcy, " he determined to turn upon his Mexican pursuers, and seek safety for 
his own party and the American settlers, not merely in the defeat of Castro, but 
in the total overthrow of the Mexican authority in California, and the establish- 
ment of an independent government in that extensive department. It was on 
the 6th of June that this resolution was taken, and by the 5th of July it was car- 
ried into effect" .... and " in the short space of sixty days from the first decisive 
movement, this conquest was achieved by a small body of men to an extent be- 
yond their own expectations, for the Mexican authorities proclaimed it a con- 
quest, not merely of the northern part, but of the whole province of the Cali- 
fornias." 

California was thus virtually an independent province, and in the hands of 
the settler-conquerors, who immediately elected Fremont governor. Upon the 
arrival of the United States naval forces, under Stockton, Fremont co-operated 
with them, and his election as governor was recognized and ratified by Stock- 
ton. Subsequently, General Kearney, of the United States army, arrived in Cal- 
ifornia, and claimed authority over the territory, and, as Fremont's superior in 
the national army, required his obedience to orders. His orders conflicted with 
those previously received from Commodore Stockton, and Fremont refused to 
obey them. This brought upon him the enmity of Kearney. Stockton received 
orders in the spring to turn the command over to Kearney, and that ended the 
dispute. Fremont, tried by court-martial for his share of the trouble, was found 
guilty of "mutiny," "disobedience of lawful orders," and "conduct to the preju- 
dice of good order and military discipline," and was sentenced to be dismissed 
from the service. The President disapproved the decision of the court upon the 

21 



1'22 NOTABLE MEN. 

charge of mutiny, and remitted the penalty ; but Fremont, indisposed to accept 
" mercy,'' resigned his commission, and started upon a ■winter exj^edition across 
the mountains, to remove the jjopular impression that the snow rendered them 
impassable. His intention was, to go from the Rio Grande to the Colorado, 
through the Cochatojjee Pass ; but, misled by his guide, he encountered a violent 
snow-storm while twelve thousand feet above the level of the sea. His expedi- 
tion proved disastrous, but he finally demonstrated the existence of the pass, and 
that the route was practicable. 

Upon his arrival in California, Fremont made his home on the Mariposas, a 
tract of land, about two hundred miles south-west from San Francisco, which he 
had purchased in 1847 for three thousand dollars. But he was not allowed to rest. 
Identified with all the great interests of California, and especially with the endeav- 
or to exclude slavery from its constitution, he was chosen in December, 1S49, to 
represent that state in the Senate of the United Slates, and was its first Senator. 
His senatorial career was brief. He had drawn the shoil term, and the proti-acted 
struggle upon the admission of his state left him but two weeks of his first ses- 
sion. In that time he offered bills to donate lands to settlers, to settle land-titles, 
to grant lands to the state for the purposes of education, to open a road across 
the continent, and for various other measures requisite in a new state. An attack 
of the Panama fever kept him from his seat throughout the next session. 

By act of Congress, every claimant of title to land in California was required, 
at the discretion of the United States attorney-general, to sue for his title in per- 
son before three separate tribunals ; and the attorney-general exei'cised his full 
authority in Fremont's case, though his title to the Mariposas was beyond doubt. 
One of the tribunals was in Wasliington, and Fremont was compelled to make 
the journey thither from California. He did so, and obtained his title. Investi- 
gation had demonstrated the mineral wealth of the Mariposas tract ; and, upon 
the settlement of the title, Fremont was offered one million dollars for it by a 
London company of capitalists, and one hundred thousand dollars were depos- 
ited with Colonel Benton as a first payment. But Fremont I'efused to sell, and 
in 1852 went to Europe to negotiate for means to work the mines. 

He returned in June, 1858, and in August set out to complete at his own 
expense the survey (abandoned in 1849) of the direct line for the Pacific road 
to San Francisco. Though this was also a winter expedition, and though the 
weather was extremely inclement, he found safe j)asses through a fine country 
all the way to San Francisco. 

Though previously Fremont had not taken any active share in general j)oli- 
tics, yet his. known sympathy with the principles of the Republican party, and 
his career as a man associated with the great development of the Far West, 
brought him prominently before the Republican national convention which met 



JOHN CHARLES FREMONT. 123 

at Philadelpliia, June 17tli, 1856, and that body unanimously nominated him as 
the candidate of the Repuljlican party for the presidency. He was defeated in 
November by tlie election of James Buchanan, who received one hundred and 
seventy-four electoral votes from nineteen states ; Fremont received one hundred 
and fourteen from eleven states, and his popular vote was one million, three hun- 
dred and forty-one thousand, five hundred and fourteen. In 1858, Mr. Fremont 
returned to California, made that state his residence, and there gave his whole 
attention to the management of his extensive Mariposas estate. 

When the Southern disturbance became an open and aggressive war, Colo- 
nel Fremont was in Paris ; but he determined immediately to return home, and 
reached Boston in the steamship Europa, June 27th, 1861. His arrival had been 
anticipated by his appointment as a major-general in the United States army ; 
and on July 6th, upon the creation of the Western department, he was ordered 
to the command in it. This department comprised the state of Illinois, and the 
states and territories west of the Mississij)pi and east of the Rocky Mountains, 
including New Mexico, and head-quarters were fixed at St. Louis. 

General Fremont reached his department and assumed the command, July 
25th. Battles had then been fought at Booneville and Carthage, and nearly the 
whole force under Lyon was in and around Springfield, in daily expectation of 
attack from the large army known to be under M'Culloch and Price. More- 
over, the federal army then in existence had been originally organized for three 
months' service : its time was now nearly expired ; and in view of this, the rebel 
forces began to threaten along the whole line of operations in the department. 
Fremont had thus to hold a department against an active enemy, and had first to 
create an army. His difiiculties were of immense magnitude ; but he does not 
appear to have talked very much about them, nor to have taken the world at 
large into his confidence, and that caused more trouble still. 

General Pillow, about the first of August, entered south-eastern Missouri at 
the head of a large rebel force ; and, to meet this. General Fremont immediately 
organized an expedition of about eight regiments, which left St. Louis August 2d, 
and moved down the Mississippi to Cairo. Pillow was either alarmed by the 
force thus prepared to meet liim, or his movement had been merely intended as 
a feint to cover the advance against Lyon in the south-western part of the state, 
for he withdrew without making any demonstration. Apparently, Fremont was 
beaten in this whole affair : for, by the actual movement made, he lost Lyon and 
Springfield; while, if he had moved to the assistance of Lyon, Pillow would 
doubtless have pressed his demonstration against Bird's Point and Cairo, and 
those places would probably have fallen into his hands. 

Fremont's appointment as major-general was confirmed by the Senate on the 
3d of August. On the 13th, he declared martial law in the "city and county 



124 



NOTABLE MEN. 



of St. Louis ;" and at about tlie same time lie began the construction of tbe very 
extensive fortifications contemplated for the defence of that city. By his proc- 
lamation of August 31st, he extended the declaration of martial law throughout 
Missouri, and •' assumed the administrative powers of the state." This was made 
necessary by ''the helplessness of the civil authority." In the same document, 
it is declared that "the property, real and personal, of all persons in the state of 
Missouri, who shall talce up arms against the United States, or who shall be 
directly proven to have taken active part with their enemies in the field, is de- 
clared to be confiscated to the public use, and their shives, if any they have, are 
hereljy declared free men." Against the extension of martial law over the state, 
Hamilton R. Gamble, who had been elected governor upon the delinquency of 
Governor Jackson, protested personally to the President ; but the President was 
disposed to leave the matter with General Fremont, and to " take no step back- 
ward ;" yet by a public order of September 11th, the President qualified the slave 
clause of General Fremont's proclamation, so that it should "not transcend the 
provisions on the same subject contained in the act of Congress entitled ' an act 
to confiscate property used for insurrectionary purposes.' " Very nearly at the 
same time was first heard the rumor that General Fremont's conduct of affairs 
in Missouri had not given satisfaction in Washington, and that he was to be 
superseded. 

After the battle at Wilson's Creek, and the consequent withdrawal of the 
national forces from the south-western part of the state, it was completely over- 
run by the united forces of M'Culloch, Rains, and Price, who extended their 
ojierations as far north as the Missouri River, and approached St. Louis from the 
direction of Springfield as near as Warsaw, on the Osage. Extensive jDrepara- 
tions to rid the state of this invasion were made by General Fremont at St. Louis, 
and subsequently at Jefferson City ; and for this purpose he finally collected and 
organized, though somewhat imperfectly, a force of thirty thousand men, which 
was disposed in live divisions, commanded respectively by Generals Hunter, 
Sigel, Asboth, M'Kinstry, and Pope. Tins force comprised twenty-five infantry 
regiments. About five thousand cavalry made up the number, and it was fur- 
nished with thirty-six pieces of artillery. On the 14th of October, the whole 
force took up its march — Asboth's and Hunter's commands from the camp at 
Tipton, M'Kinstry 's from Syracuse, Pope's from BooneA'ille, and Sigel's from 
Sedalia — for Warsaw, on the Osage. 

Warsaw was reached on the 17th. There General Fremont halted to build 
a bridge over the Osage, and passed that stream on the 22d. General Price, -with 
a force fully equal to the national army, retreated before Fremont as he ad- 
vanced ; but the latter pressed on, in the belief that he could overtake Price near 
the Arkansas line, tliough his transportation was quite unequal to anv very rapid. 



JOHN CHARLES FREMONT. 125 

movement. Price was reported to have made a stand at Carthage, and Fremont 
occupied Springfield, October 27th. Price and M'Culloch were then certainly 
not far to the south, with a large force, and a l)attle became hourly more immi- 
nent. General Fremont devoted himself with intense earncstne.'^s to the work 
of preparation for the fight. Meantime, some excitement prevailed, as the possi- 
bility of his removal was talked over in the army, and rumors were current that 
it had already taken place. Fremont could not but be aware of these rumors ; 
yet he worked on until Saturday, November 2d, when he i-eceived from a gov- 
ernment messenger the President's unconditional order for him to relincjuisli the 
command to General Hunter. lie did so, and left camp at Springfield for St. 
Louis on the 8d, having previously taken leave of the army in the following 
farewell order : 

" Soldiers of the Mississippi Army : Agreeable to orders received this 
day, I take leave of you. Although our army lias been of sudden growth, we 
have grown up together, and I have become familiar with the brave and gen- 
erous spirits which you bring to the defence of your country, and which makes 
me anticipate for you a brilliant career. Continue as you have begun, and give 
to my successor the same cordial and enthusiastic support with which 3'ou have 
encouraged me. Emulate the splendid example whicli you have already before 
you, and let me remain, as I am, proud of the noltle army which I have thus far 
labored to bring together. 

" Soldiers, I regret to leave you. Most sincerely I thank you for the regard 
and confidence you have invariably shown me. I deeply regret that I shall not 
have the honor to lead you to the victory which 3^ou are just about to win ; l>ut 
I shall claim the right to share with you in the joy of every triumph, and trust 
always to be personally remembered by my companions in amis." 

On the 11th of March, 1862, President Lincoln, having previously ordered 
a general movement of the land and naval forces of the United States, issued an 
order relieving General MeClellan from the " otlier military depai-tments"' except 
the department of the Potomac, and creating the new departments of the " Mis- 
sissippi" and the " Mountain department," assigning the command of the latter 
to Genei-al Fremont. 





.^4^ 




ALFRED ELY. ' 

MR. ELY is one of those men who may be said to have become famous in 
a single day — a drive of twenty miles on a pleasant summer morning 
made him one of the " men of the time." He was the son of Charles Ely, and 
was born in the town of Lyme, New London county, Connecticut, on the 18th of 
February, 1815. He came from that branch of our national stock pre-eminently 
distinguished for its steadiness, its enterprise and perseverance, and which has 
given to the world its full proportion of eminent statesmen, merchants, lawyers, 
authors, adventurers, and heroes. From his earliest infancy the breezes of the 
ocean became, as it were, the guardian of his health ; and one of the loveliest 
valleys in the world instilled into his mind an early love for the charms of na- 
ture. To these privileges were added all the advantages of a good common- 
school education. 

While yet in his minority, a strong desire possessed Mr. Ely not only to 
go abroad, but to see what might be done in the way of obtaining a fortune. In 
December, 1835, he left his native place, and removed to the city of Rochester, 
New York, where he studied law, and was admitted to the bar of tlie supreme 
court and court of chancery of that state, in Jul}', 1841. On the SOtli of May, 
1842, he married the daughter of the Honorable Joseph Field, late mayor of the 
city of Rochester. He entered upon the practice of his profession in that city, 
where he has ever since resided, and where he has followed his profession with 
eminent success, having accumulated a handsome fortune. In 1840, while yet 
a student at law, he was appointed clerk of the recorder's court of Rochester. 
Having subsequently taken some interest in politics, he was elected in 1858 a 
Representative in the thirty-sixth Congress from the famous and populous Mon- 
roe district of New York, serving as a member of the committee on claims. He 
was re-elected to the thirty-seventh Congress, and was placed at the head of the 
committee on invalid pensions ; and it was while attending the first and extra 
session of this Congress that he became personally but unwittingly identified 
with the Great Rebellion. 

The subsequent career of Mr. Ely, which resulted in the publication of the 
work entitled "Journal of Alfred Ely, a Prisoner of War in Richmond," and 
edited by Charles Lanman, is jmrtially depicted in the introduction of that work, 
and may therefore with propriety be here reproduced. It is as follows : 



128 NOTABLE MEN. 

" On the IStli of July, 1861, au encounter had occurred in Virginia between 
some of the Union troops and a portion of the rebel army, in which the thir- 
teenth regiment of New York volunteers particijaated. Coming, as those men 
did, chiefly from the congressional district represented by the Honorable Alfi-ed 
Ely, and as rumors had reached him that some of the soldiers in whom he felt 
a deep interest had been either killed or wounded in the action, he felt it to be 
his duty to visit the regiment and ascertain their exact condition. • Under these 
circumstances, and to a certain extent induced by a common feeling of curiosity 
to witness the movements of an army in the field, he was with others induced 
to visit the scene of an expected combat. If the object which he contemplated 
should incur censure from any c|uarter, it cannot be questioned that he severely 
expiated the error. 

" As a non-combatant, participating to no extent in the military operations, 
and nc<-idcntally becoming a spectator of the momentous scene at Bull Run, he 
found Liiiisi.'lf, bcibrc the day had closed, a prisoner of war. In company with 
many of our gallant officers and men, who had the misfortune to be captured on 
that occasion, some of whom bore honorable wounds, he was carried to the head- 
quarters of the rebel general, thence transported to Richmond, and there confined 
in a prison for five weary months. During that time he saw much to interest 
his feelings in behalf of his brave and patriotic associates, and not a little to 
illustrate the character of the people under whose control it was their misfortune 
to be thrown. 

"At an early period of this durance, Mr. Ely was impelled, liy a variety of 
motives, to keep a journal of the events which transpired in and about his prison. 
Deprived of his accustomed employments, he found in this occupation some 
relief from ennui, and anticipated the period when, released from his captivity, 
the chronicle of these days and their experiences would afford him pleasure in 
the retrospect. It was with this view, therefore, that he conmienced and con- 
tinued his record. It never occurred to him to prepare a work for publication. 
Indeed, the restraint of a prison precluded tiie possiljility of attempting any tiling 
beyond a simple memorandum of daily events, and the performance of even this 
simple task was subjected to many difficulties and interruptions. The nature 
and extent of these difficulties will appear in the following pages. 

" On his release from confinement and return to his friends, Mr. Ely found 
himself incessantly interrogated as to the events which had occurred, the treat- 
ment he had experienced, and the individuals with whom he had intercourse. 
His journal supplied ample responses to these various inquiries; and those to 
whom it was submitted concurring in urging him to publish it, he was induced 
to give his consent, believing that the unvarnished record of his pri.'^on-life would 
be acceptable, not only to his friends, but to many others in the North having 



ALFKED ELY. 



129 



relatives in the South enduring a similar fate to his, and that his reminiscences 
might throw some light on the hidden history of the Great Rebellion.'' 

With regard to the merits and success of Mr. Ely's narrative, the writer 
may mention with propriety that it received the seal of public approbation. 
From the very nature of the case, no other man could have written just such a 
work, because no other man passed directly from a seat on the floor of Congress, 
over a bloody battle-field, into the close confinement of a prison. And as to his 
release, it only remains to be stated that he was exchanged by the rebels for the 
Honorable Charles J. Faulkner, late United States minister to France, who had 
been arrested and imprisoned at Fort Warren for infidelity to his government. 
His journey from Richmond to Washington, and hence to Rochester, was all 
that he could have desired, and will long be remembered by himself and family 
as the bright and cheerful sunshine which follows a night of gloom. 

22 






G 



ABRAM DUEYEA. 

ENERAL DUEYEA was bom in the city of New York, April 29th, 1815. 
lie is of French Huguenot descent, his ancestors having emigrated to 
America on the revocation of the edict of Nantz by Louis XIV., to escape the 
religious intolerance and persecutions of that reign. Yovmg Duryea received a 
liberal education, first at the High School in Crosby street, and finishing his 
studies at the Grammar School of Columbia College. He was married in the 
year 1838, to Caroline E. Allen, daughter of William Allen, Esq., by whom he 
has four childi'en, one son and three daughters ; his son, J. Eugene, is now lieu- 
tenant-colonel of the second Maryland regiment. 

General Duryea commenced business as a mahogany-merchant, in which 
pursuit, Ijy industry and perseverance, he has succeeded in realizing a fortune. 
He commenced his military career as a private in the one hundred and forty- 
second regiment. New York militia, Colonel Graham, and served as general guide, 
quartermaster, and sergeant-major. In 1838, he joined the National Guard, 27th 
regiment of artillery, doing duty in the ranks. Subsequently passing through 
all the grades of non-commissioned otticers with distinction, he at length obtained 
his first commission, as second-lieutenant, in the year 1840. He was rapidly 
promoted through the following grades, first-lieutenant, captain, major, and lieu- 
tenant-colonel, and on the 29tli of January, 18-17, succeeded to the command of 
the famous seventh regiment. 

During his term of service as lieutenant-colonel, he commanded a battery 
of six guns. After an uninterrupted service.of eleven years, by industry, military 
and executive ability, he won for his regiment a world-wide reputation for effi- 
ciency, discipline, and moral bearing, not possessed by any other military body 
in the country. He commanded the regiment in the memorable and bloody 
riots at the Astor Place Opera House, which so effectually suppressed the rebel- 
lious element, that the regiment has ever since been a terror to all disturbers of 
the public peace. He also subdued the terrible police riots at the City Hall, the 
"Dead Rabbits," and sixth-ward riots, and in fact has been engaged in the sup- 
pression of every riot in the city of New Yorlc for the past twenty-one years. 
He was the commanding officer at Camp Trumbull, New Haven ; Camp Wortli, 
Kingston ; in quarters at Newport, Rliode Island ; and on two excursions to 



132 NOTABLE MEN. 

Boston, in ordei' to attend tlie Bunker Hill and "Warren monuments celebrations ; 
to which should be added the escort to the remains of President Monroe to 
Richmond, the regiment on their return visiting Mount Vernon, Washington, 
and Baltimore. On the -ith of July, 1859, he offered his resignation. On the 
intelligence reaching his command, it was received with deep regret. The I'cgi- 
ment waited \ipon him in a l)ody, with urgent solicitations for him to remain. 
All their efforts jiroved unavailing; he was inexorable. Colonel Durvea in his 
retirement was the recipient of compliments and testimonials siich as no other 
officer has received. The mei'chants of New York presented him with an elegant 
service of silver, and his associates in arms a testimonial of surpassing beauty, 
a masteiiDiece of workmanship in sUvcr, consisting of eleven massive pieces — a 
dinner-set — costing five thousand dollars. 

Colonel Duryea remained in retirement until the breaking out of the present 
war, when he at once resolved to enter the field, and commenced to organize, 
discipline, and drill the distinguished fifth regiment of Zouaves. From his repu- 
tation as an officer, the ranks Avcre cpickly filled, and it was one of the first 
regiments in the field. After one month's instruction in garrison at Fort Schuy- 
ler, the regiment embarked on board the steamship Alabama for Fortress Mon- 
roe. On their arrival there, Colonel Duryea was placed in command of the 
troops at 'Camp Hamilton, as acting brigadier-general, his command consisting of 
the first, second, third, fifth, and twentieth regiments of JSTew York, and Colonel 
Baker's California regiment, amounting to six thousand men. They were drilled 
in evolutions of the line, and outpost and picket duty. General Pierce having 
arrived, he was ordered to supersede Colonel Duryea, who therefore returned to 
his regiment. On the 9th of June, 1861, he received orders, through Generals 
Butler and Pierce, to advance on Little and Great Bethel, in which action the 
whole command distinguished itself for gallantry and bravery in front of a masked 
battery of great strength. On the retirement of General Pierce, Colonel Duryea 
was again placed in command as acting brigadier-general. Upon the disaster of 
Bull Run, a large portion of his force was ordered to reinforce Washington, and 
Colonel Baker was directed to assume command of the troops. Colonel Duiyea 
again returned to his regiment. On the arrival of the troops at Baltimoi'e, the 
fifth regiment was detained there, and encamped on Federal Hill, where they 
constructed a formidable and extensive fort. 

On the 81st of August, the President of the United States appointed Colo- 
nel Duryea a brigadier-general, and placed him in command of one of the lai-gest 
brigades in the service, near Baltimore. Few men in the country possess the 
united influence and skill to raise and discijjliue a large body of troops in so 
short a time as General Duryea. He brought the famous seventh regiment of 
New York to its unequalled discipline, so that over four hundred of the private- 



ABEAM DUPvYEA. 



133 



soldiers have received commissions in the army of the United States. The cele- 
brated Zouaves have contributed over a hundred officers in the present war. 
General Duryea has constantly distinguished himself by comprehensive skill, 
industry, and courage. His clear, -well-known voice, ringing along the lines, 
inspires confidence and enthusiasm among the soldiers. 
23 




te«^ 




ys""' 




tMlIC CtK-.l 



K.F. M.VXSFIKLD V S A. 



JOSEPH K. F. MAIS'SFIELD. 

JOSEPH K. F. MANSFIELD, brigadier-general iu the Uiiited States army, 
was born December 22d, 1803, in New Haven, Connecticut, where his first 
American ancestor of the name settled in 1640, just four years after they had 
landed at Boston, from Exeter, in Old England. His father, Henry S. Mansfield, 
was the son of Captain Stephen Mansfield. His mother was Mary Fenno, the 
daughter of Ephraim Fenno and Mary King, of Middletown, Connecticut, who, 
losing her husband by death at Santa Cruz, in the West Indies, moved with her 
family to her native village. Here the general, then an infant, and the youngest 
of six children, passed his earliest years, till in 1817, a mere lad of fourteen, he 
received a cadet's appointment, and entered the military academy at West Point. 
In this celebrated school of war, young Mansfield gave early promise of his 
future greatness. Such was his distinction, alike in military studies and mili- 
tary arts, that he passed through every gi-ade of office in the cadet battalion, and 
(luring the last half-year acted as assistant professor in the department of natural 
philosophy. His prize drawings are still exhibited, and are almost unrivalled 
for their accuracy and beauty. He was graduated July 1st, 1822, a youth of 
nineteen, the youngest in years and the second in rank, and, had the decision 
been left to his classmates, would have won the first honors. Immediately after, 
he received a commission in the corps of engineers, and became a brevet second- 
Tieutenant 

For the next two years we find him an assistant to the board of engineers, 
then assembled in the city of New York, and engaged in planning fortifications for 
the defence of the harbors and cities on the coast. From 1826 to 1828 he acted as 
assistant engineer, under Colonel De Russy, in the construction of Fort Hamilton, 
at the Narrows. From 1828 to 1830 he was engaged in the same capacity under 
General Gratiot, to whom the government had intrusted the building of Forts 
Monroe and Calhoun, at Old Point Comfort, Virginia. During the next sixteen 
years the young officer found a field worthy of his extraordinary talents and great 
experience, in the difficult science of military engineering. Fort Pulaski, at the 
mouth of the Savannah River, is a monument of his labors and genius as an 
architect. It is often spoken of as a model fortress, and would have proved 
impregnable to all but these latest missiles of war, which, by their prodigious 



13G irOTABLE MEN. 

weight and force, have baffled all the modern means of defence. In the midst 
of this great work he was often detached to duty at Charleston Harbor, Cape Fear 
River, and other points of national importance ; and for these high professional 
services became, in 1838, captain of engineers. 

In 1846, by our folly, if not our wickedness, we bi'ought on the ^Mexican war. 
Captain Mansfield's abilities were at once recognized, and he was ordered to join 
General Taylor at Corpus Christi. Throughout the war he was the chief engi- 
neer of that distinguished commander, and possessed his fullest respect and con- 
fidence. While the army lay here encamped, Captain Mansfield, by order of the 
general, made a reconnoissancc, survej', and map, of the whole Texan coast from 
Matagorda Bay to the Aransas River, a work which occuf)icd him six weeks. 
The peaceful negotiations which, up to this time, had been pursued l;)y the two 
governments, now seemed likely to fail, and General Taylor was ordered to ad- 
vance to the Rio Grande. But the Mexicans resolved to meet him in force, and 
dispute the passage of the Arroyo Colorado ; a purpose easily thwarted by Mans- 
field, who so quickly advanced and so skilfully planted his batteries, that the 
enemy withdrew without a contest. 

Arriving at Point Isabel, General Taylor decided on that place as his chief 
military depot, and ordered Mansfield to plan its defence. Such was the engi- 
neer's promptness and enei'gj', that in one half-day he had surveyed the ground, 
determined the key to the position, and traced a redoubt to cover it. Leaving a 
subaltern to complete the work, he hastened to rejoin his commander, now before 
Matamoras. His next task was truly a vasta moles belli ; his orders being to erect 
a batteiy to command the town, and tlien to construct a fort to hold the position. 
The main army now fell back on Point Isabel. Mansfield was no longer to be a 
mere sti-ategist and architect. With a small detachment of troops on guard, his 
garrison weak, liis works unliuished, his materials to lie brought often from 
points miles away, he must show that he can not only build forts, but defend 
them. The storm soon came. How he met it, let another tell : " Threatened in 
rear by liglit troops, bombarded in front by hea^•y batteries, day and night this 
devoted garrison fought and labored ; and well did the genius of the engineer 
second the heroism of the troops. New resources met new difficulties ; ingenuity 
supplied the want of material ; and the army, as it came, shattered and bleeding, 
but victorious, from the plains of Palo Alto and Rcsaca de la Palma, saw the 
loved flag of the Union still flying defiant over the little garrison of Fort Brown." 
For his distinguished conduct in its defence, during a siege and bombardment of 
an entire week, Mansfield was breveted a major. 

The next advance of the army was on Monterey, where Major Mansfield 
was ordered to make a reconnoissancc around the city to the Saltillo road — a 
movement which he effected with energy and success, bringing in some of the 



/ 



JOSEPH K. F. MANSFIELD. 137 

enemy's pickets, and receiving the compliments of his commander. Acting on 
his report, the next morning General Taylor dispatched General Worth's division 
to the rear of the city, for the pui-pose of occupying the Saltillo road, and taking 
the works in the rear. On the second daj^, the major, suppoi-tod by Colonel 
Garfield's command, was ordered to make a forced reconnoissance of the enemy's 
redoubt on our extreme left, and to take it if possible. The order was finely 
executed, and the redoubt taken. Early in the battle he was shot through the 
leg, but he still kept at his work all that day and part of the next, till the Bish- 
op's Palace was taken, when his wounds compelled him to retire, and prostrated 
him for six weeks. But his cool and gallant conduct did not go unrewarded. 
In his reluctant confinement to the tent, he had the satisfaction of reflectinsr 
that he entered tliat field a major but left it a lieutenant-colonel. The battle of 
Buena Vista found him again ready for action. 

This contest began on the 22d of February, IS-iT, with the light-armed 
troops, and lasted two days. As Santa Anna advanced, Colonel Mansfield spent 
all the first day in reconnoitring the enemy and the mountain-passes, and under 
orders of General Wool remained all night on the ground, while General Taylor 
returned seven miles to Saltillo. The next morning, the enemy commenced the 
fight with great spirit. Our left was defeated, driven back, and put to flight. 
At this moment, Colonel Mansfield rode forward, and, without waiting orders 
from General Wool, who was not in sight, assumed command, brought up Colo- 
nel Key's reserve regiment, and formed a new line, on which the unbroken 
troops fell back, formed anew, and saved the battle. For his services and gal- 
lantry, he was again promoted 1o the rank of colonel. 

At the close of the war, Culoncl Mansfield was assigned to duty at the forti- 
fications in Boston Uarbor, became a member of the board of engineers, and was 
often detached to superintend river improvements, &c., until in 1853 he was 
appointed inspector-general of the ann)-, with the rank of colonel. In this high 
capacity he inspected the department of New Mexico oni.-c, California twice, and 
Texas twice, and had just returned from the latter field when he was summoned 
to the defence of Washington. Here, when the capital was filled with traitors 
and weak with fear, and when the spirit of the North was not as yet roused by 
one purpose and bajjtized in one blood — here General Mansfield protected the 
nation's heart when its life-beats seemed almost destined to cease. He fortified 
the city on every side, crowned the heights of Arlington, and took Alexandria, 
By his iron will, sleepless energy, constant industry, and his untiring courtesies 
to all under and around him in those perilous hours, called for the gratitude and 
honor of every American. But the fatal defeat at Manassas overshadowed and 
swept away on the tide of public shame and grief and fear all previous merit and 

demerits. The nation called for McClellan : Sol sunjlt sklkeque mnhranlta: 
24 



lyy NOTABLE MEN. 

General MansfieM has since been put successively in command of Forts 
Monroe, Hatteras, Camp Hamilton, and Newport News, at which latter place he 
is said to have saved the Congress from the sad yet glorious fate of the Cumber- 
land when the Merrimac assailed those mighty ships-of-war in the most signal 
naval battle recorded in history. 

In private life, General Mansfield exhibits a pure and lofty character; kind 
and true to his family, noble to his relatives, generous to his friends, and 
just to all. In his native town he proves an exception to tlie proverb: "A 
prophet is not without honor save in his own coiintry." A friend and helper 
of every good work, and especially a liberal patron of education, he seems to live 
above reproach. One intimate with him wonders that a man described by an 
eye-witness in the iloxican war as fierce and awful in battle, should be so kind 
and winsome in social life. It was this rare blending of promj^tness and cour- 
tesy which won for him the confidence of strangers, and the love of the troops 
successively marshalled at "Washington. Perhaps this charm captivates our 
judgment when, with many others, we regret that one who never fought a battle 
witliout immediate promotion on the field, should not have been kept in a com- 
manding position during this great national struggle. We will at least venture 
the opinion that if there had been no Mansfield to fortify the capital, there would 
have been no capital for McClellan to defend. 






h0^ViMi 







MA.r r.KK. JOHN A DIX.U. HA. 



JOHIf ADAMS DIX. 

JOHN ADAMS DIX, sou of LieutGDautColonel Timothy Dix, of the United 
States armv, was born at Boscawen, New Hampshire, on the 2-ith of July, 
1798. At a very early age he was sent to the academy at Salisbury, from which 
he was afterward transferred to the academy at Exeter, then under the direction 
of the celebrated Doctor Abbott, where he was the fellow-student of Doctor Jared 
Sparks, Honorable John G. Palfrey, the Pcabodys, the Buckminsters, and others 
who have since acquired a just celebrity for their literary and scientific attain- 
ments. Early in 1811, while he was not yet fourteen years of age, he was trans- 
ferred to a college at Montreal, where, under the direction of the Fathers of the 
Sulpician Order, he diligently pursued his studies until Jul}', 1812, when, in 
consequence of the opening of hostilities between the United States and Great 
Britain, he was compelled to return to his own countiy. 

After a short tei-ra of study at Boston, in December,' 1812, young Dix was 
appointed a cadet in the army of the United States, and was ordered to Balti- 
more, where his father was then in command. His official duties were confined 
to an assistant clerkship to his father, in the recruiting service ; and he was, for- 
tunately, enabled to continue his studies, under the direction of the able faculty 
of St. Mary's College, a privilege which he gladly enjoyed. H'e was, at that 
time, a master of Spanish, a good Latin and Greek scholar, and well acquainted 
with mathematics. He spoke French fluently ; and in every respect he was a 
highly-cultivated and scholarly young man. 

In March, 1813, while on a visit to the city of Washington, the secretory of 
war offered him, without solicitation, the choice of a scholarship' in the military 
academy at West Point, or an ensigncy in the army which was then about to 
take the field. He selected the latter, entered the fourteenth infantry, of which 
his father was then lieutenant-colonel, and immediately marched with his com- 
pany to Sackett's Harbor, in New York. 

In June, 1813, while yet in his fifteenth year, he was appointed adjutant of 
an independent battalion of nine companies, commanded by Major Upham, with 
which he descended the St. Lawrence, and participated in the perils and hard- 
ships of that unfortunate expedition. 

His father having died in camp, in November, 1813, Lieutenant Dix sought 



1-40 N0TAI5LE MEN. 

and obtained leave of absence, and retui-ned home for the purpose, if possible, 
of saving" something from the wreck of his father's estate, which had become 
greatlv, and, as it proved, hopelessly disordered, dnring the absence of the 
latter in the service of liis country. The lieutenant was then but little more 
than fifteen vears of age, and his situation was one of great embarrassment and 
difficulty. lie had lost his father, b}' whose prudent counsels he had been 
guided, and with his mother and nine children — all but two younger than him- 
self — he was thrown upon the woi'ld with no other means of support than his 
lieutenant's commission. 

In August, 1814, he was transferred to the regiment of artilleiy of which 
Colonel Wallach was the commandant ; and under the guidance of that gallant 
ofScer he continued .several years, pursuing his studies in history and the classics 
whenever his duties enabled him to do so. In 1819, he was called into the mili- 
tary family of General Brown, as an aide-de-camp ; and his leisure hours were 
spent in reading law, witli a view of leaving the army at an early day. 

In 1825, he was promoted to the command of a company in the third artil- 
lery ; but his health having become impaired, he was compelled to ask for a 
leave of absence, and visited Cuba, whei-c he passed the winter of 1825-'6. In 
the following summer, still in search of health, he visited Euro})e, and made an 
extended tour through the continent. 

In 1826, Captain Dix married Catharine Morgan, adopted daughter of John 
I. Morgan, Esq., of the city of New York ; and in December, 1828, he retired 
from the army, establishing himself soon afterward in Cooperstown, Otsego 
county, New York, in the practice of law. He also entered political life, and it 
was not long before he became one of the most active and influential members 
of the Democratic party in tlie interior of the state. In 1830, Governor Throop 
called him into the public service as adjutant-general, a post of duty which he 
filled with honor to himself and singular advantage to the militia of the state. 

In January, 1833, he was chosen secretary of state of New York, and be- 
came, ex officio, superintendent of common schools, a regent of the universitj', a 
member of the canal board, and one of the commissioners of the canal fund. It 
was he who introduced and established school-district libraries ; and his codifica- 
tion of the laws and decisions under which the common schools of the state are 
governed, is a monument to his industry and ofilcial integrity. As a regent of 
the univei'sity and a meml^er of the canal boards, he also rendered very eflScient 
services to the state ; and he retired from office with well-earned honors. 

In 1841, Mr. Dix was elected a meml)er of the assembly of the state, from 
the county of Albany : and in the struggle which ensued concerning the financial 
policy of the state of New York, under the leadership of the sturdy Michael 
Hoffman, he took a vei-y active part. In the extra session which followedj 



JOHN ADAMS DIX. 141 

wherein the question of a division of the state into congressional districts was 
considered, and opposed with great skill and energy, Mr. Dix was again con- 
spicuous ; and in two very able speeches he urged an acquiescence in the meas- 
ure, although at the same time he maintained that the interference of Congress in 
the matter was unnecessary and unauthorized. 

In the fall of 1842, Mr. Dix went abi-oad, in consequence of the ill health 
of his wife ; spending the winter in Madeira, and the following year in the soutli- 
ern countries of Europe. He returned to America in June, 1844, and in Janu- 
ary, 1845, he was elected a Senator in the Congress of the United States, to fill 
the vacancy occasioned by the elevation of Silas "Wright to the gubernatorial chair 
of the state. During the succeeding four years he was among the most useful 
members of that distinguished body ; and, as chairman of the committee of com- 
merce, he rendered very valuable services to his country. During his official 
term the annexation of Texas, the war with Mexico, the Oregon boundary, the 
French spoliations, and the right of Congress to prevent the extension of slavery 
into the territories, were the great subjects at issue ; and on the latter question, 
especially, Mr. Dix took a decided and leading position, representing with great 
ability " The Barnhurners' or free-soil Democrats of New York. 

In the fall of 1848, Mr. Dix was the candidate of his party for governor of 
the state of New York ; but, of course, he was not successful, and in March, 
1849, he retired to private life. In 1853, he was appointed assistant treasurer 
of the United States, in New York; but soon afterward, having become dissat- 
isfied with the official conduct of President Pierce, he resigned his office, and 
went abroad. 

In May, 1860, Mr. Dix was appointed postmaster of the city of New York ; 
and in January, 1861, when the public danger from the defection of the Southern 
states became manifest, he was summoned to Washington by President Buchanan, 
and on the 11th of that month succeeded Mr. Thomas as secretary of the treasury. 
On the 29th of January, he sent the justly celebrated telegraphic dispatch to 
Mr. William Hemphill Jones, whom he had previously sent to New Orleans, 
with orders to save, if possible, the revenue-cutters M'Clelland and Cass ; and 
"i/" any one attempts to haul down the American flag, shoot him on the spotT has 
since become one of the watchwords of our countrymen in their struggle with 
their rebellious brethren. 

On the 6th of March, 1861, Mr. Dix retired from the treasury department, 
returning to his home in New York ; and on the 20th of May, when the assault 
on Fort Sumter aroused the outraged North, he was called to preside at the im- 
mense meeting of the citizens of New York in Union Square, which had been 
convened to take measures for the defence of the constitution and the enforce- 
ment of the laws. " The Union Defence Committee," which was organized at 



142 NOTABLE MEN. 

that meeting, and on whicli so much depended in the earlier days of the struggle, 
called him to its head ; and, as its chairman, he was one of the most active and 
intelligent of its members. 

On the Cth of May, he was appointed a major-general in the volunteer ser- 
vice of New York ; and, on the 14th of June, the President appointed him to a 
similar position in the army of the United States. On the 20th of July, having 
been appointed commandant of the department of Maryland, he was ordered to 
proceed to Baltimore, where he established his head-quarters. 

Under his directions, the expedition to the county of Accomac, in Virginia, 
commanded by General Lockwood, was organized and successfully prosecuted ; 
and his energetic and vigilant prosecution of his duties was displayed in the 
complete quiet which prevailed throughout his department. 

In Mav, 1862, he was transferred to the command of the military depart- 
ment of Eastern Virginia ; and established his head-c|uarters at Fortress Monroe, 
where he still remains. 

The last civil duty which General Dix performed was as a member of the 
commission to consider the several cases of alleged treason among the rebel pris- 
oners in the custody of the United States authorities. 

General Dix possesses great energy of character; and he has always dis- 
charo-ed the varied duties to which he has been called, with honor to himself and 
advantage to the country. 







^ ''-;. 



P.K:r G. G F.-N. A . i-;^ bu rn s I d;e 



* --TiTJ-r. li p FU -VWi^UL 



AMBROSE EVERETT BUR^SIDE. 

AMBROSE EVERETT BURNSIDE was Lorn at Liberty, Union county, 
Indiana, on the 23d day of May, 1824, and was, consequently, in the full 
prime of his early manhood when the War foi- the Union commenced. He is 
of the old blood that flowed in the veins of heroes at Bannockburn and Flodden 
Field, and which, in many a hotly-contested battle, has proved the Scotch to be 
among the best soldiers in the world. 

His grand-parents were born in Scotland, but, removing to America near 
the close of the last century, settled in South Carolina. Here General Burnside's 
father was born, educated, and married. Following the profession of law, he 
acquired an eminent position, and enjoyed a profitable practice. After the war 
of 1812, tlic great fields of the West attracted the attention of the citizens of the 
old states. Mr. Burnside early felt the influence, and in the year 1821 he re- 
moved with his family to Liberty. We find him honoi-ably and creditably filling 
the ofiice of clerk, and afterward of judge of the circuit court, in his new home. 

The son, Ambeose, was carefully nurtured, and received his elementary 
education in the best schools of the neighborhood. He was admitted to the 
mflitary academy at West Point in his eightecntii year, and was graduated in 
1847, in the artillery, the fifteenth in rank, in a class numbering forty-seven 
members. In the following year he received a full second-lieutenancy, and was 
attached to the third regiment of artillery. During his stay at West Point, the 
war with Mexico commenced; and immediately upon his graduation, he proceed- 
ed to the scene of action. On his arrival at Vera Cruz, Lieutenant Burnside was 
put in command of an escort to a baggage-train, and sent into the interior. Al- 
though the route was in the nominal possession of the United States troops, the 
Mexicans, by a guerilla warfiire, which they continually carried on, had suc- 
ceeded in cutting off or disabling se\-eral ti-ains that had previously been sent. 

The duty was hazardous, and the post responsible; but the j'oung lieuten- 
ant carried his small command through without injury, and manifested so much 
fidelity and skill as to win the commendation of his superior officers. Before 
the column to which Lieutenant Burnside joined himself could reach the capital, 
the battles in front of the city of IMexico had been fought, and tlie war was vir- 
tually finished. He was thus deprived of the opportunity which he desired of 
participating, to any great extent, in the active operations of the armies in the 



144 NOTABLE MEN. 

field. When peace was proclaimed, he was ordered to Fort Adams, Newport, 
llhodo Island, and was employed at that post until the spring of 1849. His 
natural refinement of manner, his urbane deportment, and his frank and manly 
bearing, gained him many friends, and here he laid the foundation of that re- 
markable esteem with which he is regarded in the state of Rhode Island. 

In the year 1849, he was transferred from the agreeable duty of the post at 
Fort Adams, and ordered to New Mexico, to join Bragg's famous battery, of 
which he was now appointed first-lieutenant. It was found that the country 
was not favorable for the operations of light artilk-ry. Bragg's command was 
reorganized as cavalry, and Lieutenant Burnside was put in charge of a com- 
pany. The service was very exciting and perilous, but our lieutenant acquitted 
himself with such coolness and bravery as to receive warm encomium for his 
conduct. He reached New ilcxico on the 1st of Augiist, and immediately went 
into the fielcL On the 21st of that month, while scouring the country near Los 
Vegas, with a force of twenty-nine men, he saw a company of Indians, sixty or 
seventy -five strong, drawn up at the head of a ravine, prepared to disjDUte his 
progres.s. He immediately determined to attack them ; and, after a single dis- 
charge of their rifles, his men, led by their gallant commander, charged with 
sabres, and swept the Apaches like chaff before them. In this brief and brilliant 
engagement, eighteen Indians were killed, nine were taken prisoners, forty horses 
were captured, and the whole band was efFectually dispersed. The commander 
of the jiost. Captain Judd, complimented Burnside, in disj^atches, in the highest 
terms, and recommended him for promotion. 

In the winter of 1850-51, we find Lieutenant Burnside acceptably filling 
the oftice of quartermaster of the boundary commission, then occupied in running 
the line between the United States and Mexico, as established by the treaty of 
peace negotiated by the two nations. In September, 1851, he was ordered across 
the plains of the Far West, as bearer of dispatches to the government. It was a 
duty requiring the utmost vigilance, prudence, and i}ersistence. It was necessary 
that the dispatches which he bore should reaeii Washington at the earliest pos- 
sible moment. With an escort of three men — one of whom was his faithful 
negro-servant, who has followed his fortunes for several years with singular devo- 
ti<.in — ho started on his difficult enterprise. Twelve hundred miles of wilderness, 
occupied by hostile Indians and wild beasts, lay between him and civilization. 
He accomplislied the distance in seventeen days, meeting with many adventures 
and hair-breadth escapes upon the way. At one time a party of Indians was 
upon his trail for more than twenty-four hours, and he only escaped by taking 
advantage of the darkness of the night to double upon his ]iursuers. He lully 
aceomjtlished the object of his mission, and received the thanks of the war 
department for liis efficiency and success. 



AMBKOSK ICVEUKTT BUKNSIDE. U5 

During his service in New Mexico, lie had found that the carbine with 
which tlie troops were armed was a wholly inadequate weapon for the peculiar 
warfare of the plains. While upon his journey to Washington, he occupied his 
mind with an attempt to supply the defect. The result of his reflection and 
study was the invention of the new breech-loading rifle, which bears the name 
of its inventor, and seems a perfect weapon. Lieutenant Burnside was desirous 
that his own country should receive the benefit of his labors, and he ofiered to 
contract with the government for the manufacture of the arm. Pendino- neo-o- 
tiation, he returned to his former post at Newport. While here, on the 27th of 
April, IS.5'2, he was married to Miss Mary Bishop, of Providence, a lady of oreat 
force of character and of most amiable disposition. 

The expectation of a contract for the manufacture of the newlv-invented 
rifle, and his marriage, decided Lieutenant Burnside to leave the service, and he 
resigned his commission. Removing to Bristol, he built a manufoctorv, and 
made all necessaiy arrangements for completing liis business negotiations with 
the government. Unfortunately for him, the contract was not consummated; 
and, after three or foiir years of struggle and loss, Mr. Burnside became so deeply 
involved and embarrassed as to prevent anj- further progress in his adopted occu- 
pation. He was still more embarrassed by the action of John B. Floyd, who 
became secretary of war in 1857, and found himself compelled to withdraw en- 
tirely from the manufacture of arms. With characteristic high-mindedness, he 
gave up every thing which he possessed, including his jmtent, to his creditors; 
and, selling even his uniform and sword, sought to retrieve his fortunes at the 
West. He went to Chicago, April 27th, 1858, and obtained a situation as cashier 
in tlie land department of the Illinois Centi-al Railroad. His old friend and 
schoolfellow. Captain George B. McClellan, occupied an honorable jjosition in 
the same railroad company, and the two soldiers once more made their quarters 
together. Burnside, limiting his expensco to a certain amount, devoted the 
remainder of his salary to the payment of his debts ; and when afterward he was 
enabled to free himself entirely from the claims of his creditors, his unblemished 
integrity in business was as conspicuous as his former gallantry in the field. In 
June. 1860, he was promoted to the office of treasurer of the railroad company. 

The intelligence of the bombardment of Fort Sumter, and the proclamation 
of the President of the United States, awakened Mr. Burnside's patriotism, and 
he felt once more impelled to take the field. His country had given him his 
education, and he felt that to his country his life and services were due; His 
residence in Rhode Island had endeared him to the jieople of that o-allant state 
and he had already held the highest command of the state militia. When the 
first regiment of Rhode Island troops was offered to the secretaiy of war by the 

governor of that state, it was to him that all eyes turned for the command He 
25 



146 NOTABLE MEN. 

was appdiiited colonel, immediately closed Lis desk of Ijusiiiess, and rejiaired to 
Providence. There he devoted his time to the organization and equijiment of 
the regiment; and so elfectively was the work perfoi-med, that on Thursday, 
April 18th, the light Lattery of six guns, and one hundred and fifty men, was 
endjarked on hoard a steamer, and sailed to New York, on the way to "Washing- 
ton. On Saturday, the first detachment of the regiment, iive hundi'cd and forty- 
four officers and men — armed, uniformed, provisioned for a three weeks' cam- 
paign, and abundantly supplied with ammunition — left rroyidence by steanici'. 
Transferred to the go\-ernment ti'ansport Coatzocoalcos at New York, the com- 
mand proceeded to Annapolis without delay, arriving on Wednesday, April 23d. 

On Tliursday morning the troops took Tip the line of march, and, bivouack- 
ing on the road, reached Annapolis Junction early on Friday morning. Taking- 
cars at that point, they went on to Washington, reaching the capital at noon. 
The light battery, which had stopped at Easton, Pennsylvania, and the remain- 
der of the regiment, arrived at Wasliington in the early part of the following 
week; and twelve hundred Rhode Island men, under the command of Colonel 
Burnside, were thus ready for any emergencjr. The regiment, under the thor- 
ough discipline of its commander, soon took high rank in the army for character 
and efficiency. Its camp, located in the northern suburbs of the city, became a 
favorite place of resort, and was considered a model of its kind. The excellent 
reputation which the regiment had acquired, was mainly due to the unwearied 
efforts and the unceasing vigilance of its colonel. In June, the regiment joined 
General Patterson's column, intended for the reduction of Harper's Ferry; but, 
on the evacuation of that place by the rebels, it was recalled to Washington, in 
anticipation of an attack upon tlic capital. 

Upon the advance toward Manassas, in July, Colonel Burnside was placed 
in command of a brigade, consisting of four regiments and a battery, viz. : the 
first Rhode Island ; the second Rhode Island, with its battery of light artillery, 
which had reached Washington in June ; the second New Hampshire, which had 
also arrived in June ; and the seventy-first New York, which had accompanied 
the Rliode Island troops on the march from Annapolis, in April. Colonel Burn- 
side had been offered a brigadier-generalship upon his first arrival at Washing- 
ton, but had declined it, on the ground of duty to his own regiment and state. 
But when it became necessary to organize the army, preparatory to an advance 
into A^irginia, he did not hesitate to accept the post which was now pressed upon 
him. His brigade was joined to the division under Colonel David Hunter, and 
with the rest of the army left Washington on Tuesday, July 16th. The division 
bivouacked at Annandalo, and on Wednesday, with Colonel Burnside's brigade 
in advance, pushed on to Fairfax Court House. On Thin-sday, the whole army 
encainjM'd at Centreville. after a skirmish between a jiart of General Tyler's 



AMBUUSE EVEUETT BUENSIDE. 147 

division and the rebels at Blackburn's Ford. On Sunday morning, July 21st, 
the army moved toward Manassas Junction. 

In the disastrous battle of Bull Run, Colonel Burnside and his brigade were 
conspicuous for their bravery and steadiness. They were among the troops to 
whom that dav's events brought no disgrace. Burnside's own regiment showed, 
by its gallantry and coolness, that its colonel's labors had produced the linest 
results. Tlie other regiments of the brigade also proved what good soldiers 
could do in the hands of a brave and able officer. The battery of the second 
Ehode Island was most efficiently served, and the regiment itself was particularly 
distinguished for its gallantry. General M'Dowell had already complimented , 
Colonel Burnside upon his command, and declared that he should rely upon the 
brigade in the time of action. Accordingly, in the flank movement toward Sud- 
ley's Ford, by Colonel Hunter's division, Burnside's brigade took the advance — 
the second Rhode Island regiment, under Colonel Slocum, a most gallant and 
accomplished officer, leading the column. 

Soon after crossing Bull Run at Sudley's Ford, about half-past nine o'clock, 
A. M., the leading regiment was attacked by the enemy. Colonel Hunter, who 
was in advance, was wounded very early in the action ; and Colonel Burnside, 
being in command of the troops till Colonel Porter, who was in the rear, came 
up, at once led the residue of his brigade forward, and, posting them most advan- 
tageously, succeeded in beating back the enemy's attack, and driving him from 
the part of the field where he had taken jjosition. Colonel Porter's brigade was 
deployed to the right, and Colonel Heintzelman's division took post still fiirther 
upon the right. Colonel Burnside's brigade, assisted by Major Sykes's bat- 
talion of regulars, stood the brunt of the enemy's attack in complete order for 
nearly two hours, when, having comjaleted the work assigned to it, witli a loss 
of three hundred killed and wounded, and being relieved by Colonel Sherman's 
brigade, it was withdrawn to replenish its now exhausted supply of ammunition, 
and to await orders to renew the contest. But the order which came was not 
to advance, but to retreat. Colonel Burnside at once collected his brigade, 
formed his regiments in column by the side of the road, waited till the larger 
portion of the disorganized troojDS had passed, and with Major Sykes's battalion 
of regulars and Captain Arnold's regular battery in the rear, prepared to cover 
the retreat along the forest-path over which the division had marched in the 
morning. 

The admiralile disposition thus made by Colonel Burnside and Major Sykes, 
uniler Oeneral M'Dowell's direction, contributed greatly to the safety of the 
broken army in its perilous march through the woods. On emerging from the 
forest-path, the artillery passed to the front, and the infantry were left unpro- 
tected. The retreat continued in good order till the army reached the bridge on 



148 NOTABLE MEN. 

the WaiTcntoii turn})ikc, crossing Cub Run. Near tliis place, tlic rebels liad 
broi;ght up a battery of artillery, a regiment or two of infiintry, and a squadron 
of cavalry, and attempted to cut off our defeated forces. Tbey succeeded in ob- 
structing tlic bridge sufficiently to prevent the jmssage of many baggage-wagons, 
ambulances, and gun-carriages, and at this place the greatest loss of cannon liy the 
national troops occurred. When Colonel Burnside reached the bridge, it was in 
such condition as to preclude the jiossibility of crossing, and he ordered the men to 
ford the stream, and i-ally at Centreville. The scattered forces sought the camps 
which they had left in the morning, and prepared to pass the night. General 
M'Dowell soon sent orders to continue the retreat to Washington. The brigade 
reached Long Bridge about seven o'clock on the morning of Monday, July 22d, 
and two hours later entered Washington, in the order in which it had cpiitted 
the city on the Tuesday previous. The regiments composing it immediately 
marched to their respective camps. Colonel Burnside's bearing, in all the expe- 
rience of the day and night, was all that could be expected of a man and a 
soldier, and he at once attracted the attention of the country^ to his gallantry, 
generalship, and skill. 

Tiie term of service for which the first Rhode Island regiment had enlisted, 
expired on the day before the battle ; but the regiment, having suffered little or 
no demoralization, was ready to remain longer at Washington, if its services 
should be required. Colonel Burnside was unwilling to return to Rhode Island 
till he was assured that the capital was beyond danger of an attack. His officers 
and men shared his feelings. But the war department had resolved upon a reor- 
ganization of tlie army, and the three months' regiments were all ordered to their 
homes. The second regiment from Rhode Island, with its battery, was left in the 
field ; while tiie first returned to Providence, and was there mustered out of the 
service of the United States. Ccilonel Burnside, with his regiment, received the 
thanks of the general assembly^ of Rhode Island for the fidelity and bravery with 
which he and they had performed their duties. Colonel Burnside's services were 
also recognized by the general government, and he was at once pi-omoted to the 
rank of brigadier-gencial, his ctmimission dating August 6th, 1862. 

Immediately upon receiving his commission, General Burnside was sum- 
moned to Washington, to assist in reorganizing the forces in fi'ont of the capital. 
He was employed in brigading the troops as they arrived, and assigning them 
jjlaces of encampment. To his excellent judgment in this respect, and his great 
executive skill, tlie efficiency of the army was to a great degree due, in those dark 
da3's of the I'epublic. 

Later in the sea.son, several cx})cditions were projected, to operate at diffi>r- 
ent points upon the Southern coast. The most hazardous and difficult of these, 
designed to effect a lodgement upon the dangerous shores of North Carolina, and. 



AMBROSE EVKKETT JJURNSIDE. 149 

carrying a force into the iuteiior, in tlic rear of the rebel army in Virginia, to 
cut off communication with tkc South, was intrusted to tlic genius and ability 
of Burnside. For more than two months he was indefatigabiy employed at his 
head-quarters, in the city of New York, preparing for this important enterprise. 
The expedition finally set sail from Annapolis in the early part of January, 1862. 
Fifteen thousand men were embarked upon a large fleet of transports, and, con- 
voyed by numerous gunboats, proceeded to the place of their destination. The 
route of the expedition lay througli Hatteras Inlet into Albemarle Sound. It 
was a short voyage indeed, but a most perilous one. Cape Hatteras, noted for 
its storms, is the terror of every maiiner whose course lies along the North Amer- 
ican coast. The wintry season added to the dangers of the navigation. The 
expedition liad hardly left the land-loeked waters of Chesapeake Bay, when a 
most terrilic storm burst upon the armada with frightful fury. The tortuous 
and shifting channel leading through the inlet into the sound was to be found 
and followed in the very teeth of the wind, when the storm was at its height. 
The inlet itself had been produced by the sea breaking across the narrow spit of 
sand from which Cape Hatteras projects, and the depth of the channel shifts and 
changes with the varying influence of the wind and tide. It was found, there- 
fore, that several of the vessels which at New York bad been certified to be of 
light draught, sufBcient to pass through the channel, could not be got over the 
bar. The consequence was, that a large portion of the fleet was in imminent 
danger of shipwreck. 

For nearly a week the storm continued, and the deplorable situation of 
affairs seemed to indicate the destruction of the entire expedition at the very 
threshold of its career. In this most trying crisis. General Burnside's admirable 
qualities shone forth in illustrious liglit. It is the universal testimony of all who 
were connected with tliis expedition, that the bearing of its brave commander 
was beyond all praise. He seemed to be omnipresent. Wherever the troops 
were to be rescued from their perilous position, wherever tlie danger was most 
threatening, wlicrever encouragement was needed, wherever help was most timely, 
there always appeared the general ; and, by exertions beneath which any man 
with a less lofty purpose and a less persistent energy would laave sunk exhausted, 
the expedition was brought to a safe anchorage within Albemarle Sound, and 
the forces landed in good order. Only a few vessels foundered, and two or three 
lives were lost by the accidental swamjiing of a life-boat. Encomjiassed by perils 
and threatened with disasters, General Burnside never lost his courage, his hope, 
and his faith. Buoyed up in the midst of misfortune by his unswerving trust in 
the care of a superintending Providence, he stood serene and unmoved at his 
post of duty, and conquered even the elements by an unwearied patience. 

Harassed by the delays caused by the storm, active operations against the 



150 N OTA RLE MEN. 

rebels could not at once be commenced. The plan agreed npon by General 
McClellati and tlic authorities at Washington was, to threaten Norlblk by an 
attack upon the rebel stronghold of lloanoke Island, before proceeding to the 
mainland. Every tiling was prepared for this initial step by the first of Febru- 
ary ; and on the r)tli of tliat month, the troops being embarked on board the 
transports (and the gunboats, under the command of Commodore L. M. Golds- 
borougii, being ready to move), tlie whole fleet steamed slowly up toward the 
entrance of Albemarle Sound. On the 6th, the gunboats entered Croatan Sound, 
engaged the rebel fleet, and bombarded the water-batteries of tlie enemy on 
Eoanoke Island. On the afternoon of the 7th, the troops were landed; and on 
the morning of the 8th, the attack was made upon the key of the position, a 
battery in the centre of the island. The battle lasted two hours, and resulted in 
the complete victory of the national forces, which placed in General Burnside's 
hands six forts and batteries, forty cannon, over two thousand prisoners of war, 
and three thousand stands of arms. The national loss was thirty-five killed and 
two hundred wounded. 

Commodore Goldsborough immediately sent a fleet of gunboats up the Pas- 
quotank and Chowan Eivers, by which the rebel gunboats were sunk, captured, 
or driven away ; and Elizabeth City, Hertford, Edenton, and Plj'mouth, fell into 
the possession of the Union troops. 

These brilliant successes were hailed with the utmost enthusiasm by the 
people of the North. Following swiftly upon the defeat of the rebels nnder 
General Zollicoffer at Mill Spring, Kentucky,- they served to revive the spirits 
of the loyal men, and to assure them of greater victories to come. Bv none was 
the intelligence of Burnside's triumph more gratefully received than b}' the 
people of Rhode Island. The general assembly, which was in session, immedi- 
ately voted General Burnside a sword in hnnor of the victory, and the thanks of 
the representatives of the people to the officers and men under his command. 
Massachusetts, through her legislature, expressed her gratitude. The Congress 
of the United States and the heads of the government acknowledged bv their 
action tlieir sense of the importance of this great success ; and the President 
nominated General Burnside a major-general of volunteers. The Senate con- 
firmed the nomination on the 18th of Marcli, 1862. 

Meanwhile, General Burnside was not idle. Releasing his prisoners hy ex- 
.ihange, in order that the record of Bull Run might be thoroughly cft'aced, he 
prepared to make furtlier ad\-anccs upon the enemy's forces. In pursuance of 
tlie instructions of the general-in-chief, Burnside once more embarked iiis troops 
on the 6th of Marcli, and made ready to strike another and more decisive blow. 
This time it was Newbern that was destined to feel the weight of his loyal hand. 
On Wednesday, March 12th, the expedition passed the scene of its first disasters ; 



AMBROSE EVKKETT BURN SIDE. 151 

on the morning of Thursday, the troops were landed at the mouth of Slocum's 
Creek, on the Neuse river, a distance of ten miles south of Newbern ; and, in the 
afternoon of the same day, a fatiguing march of seven miles, flanked and pro- 
tected by the gunboats in the river, brought them within a short distance of the 
enemy's intrenchments, passing one or two deserted batteries on the way. Here 
they bivouacked in the midst of a drenching rain; and early on the mornin"- of 
Friday, March l-lth, they were rou.sed and prepared to make the attack. 

The battle commenced about half past seven o'clock, and continued for four 
hours. The enemy was strongly intrenched in batteries and rifle-pits, at least a 
mile in lengtli, and bravely defended his works. But nothing could withstand 
tl)C valor and endurance of our brave troops, and tlic consummate skill of their 
leader. The contest was decided, as at Roanoke, by a bayonet-charge, and the 
rebels fled in precipitate haste. They escaped by means of the bridges crossing 
the Eiver Trent to Newbern, and retreated in disorder and panic by the railroad 
to Goldsborough. Our troops were prevented from following by the destruction 
of the bridges, which the rebels burnt as they retreated. The gunboats and 
transports were delayed by a dense fog, but, as soon as they came up, carried the 
troops across to the city. It was too late to overtake the flying foe, and only 
two hundred jirisoners were captured. 

By this success— hardly bought, indeed, by the loss of eighty-six killed, and 
four hundred and thirty-eight wounded — all the rebel inti-cncbmcnts and batter- 
ies, mounting between fifty and sixty pieces of cannon, large quantities of stores, 
ammunition, arms, tents, and baggage, and the city of Newbern, came into the 
possession of the victorious and gallant chief Two steamers, eight schooners, 
the water-batteries, and a considerable quantity of cotton, were the prizes of the 
na,val portion of the expedition, under the command of Captain S. C. Rowan. 
The victory was complete, and the intelligence was received with heartfelt joy 
throughout the North. Some anxiety had been felt lest a part of the rebel anriy, 
which had evacuated Manassas the week previous, should march into North 
Carolina, and intercept Burnside on his way. The enthusiasm was heightened 
by the relief which his success had given, and the assurance of his safety, which 
was thus placed beyond question. 

Continued victory seemed to wait upon his steps. General Burnside is a 
man who knows how to improve his successes ; and as soon as Newbern had 
been reduced, an expedition was sent to Washington, to occupy that place. 
Beaufort also became an object for the general's victorious arms ; and on Sun- 
day, March 23d, General Parke's brigade peaceably took possession of More- 
head City, opposite that town. Fort Macon was immediately summoned, and, 
upon the refusal of the officer in command to .surrender, measures were imme- 
diately talcen to force a capitulation. General Burnside repaired to the scene of 



152 NOTABLE MEN. 

operations, that he might personally superintend, the investment of the jilace. 
Meanwhile, tiie enemy's forces were concentrating at Goldsborough anil Kings- 
ton, threatening the recapture of Newbern. General Burnside did not allow his 
vigilance to relax in guarding the appi'oaches to cither place ; and, leaving a 
sufficient force at Beaufort, he hastened back to Newbern, to fortify that impor- 
tant position. Every arrangement vras made to give the foe a warm reception. 

General Burnside's characteristics are finely illustrated in every act of his 
career. He is a man of eminent truthfulness and sincerit}-. Thoroughly beyond 
deceit or intrigue, above all jealousy or meanness, open-hearted as the day, and 
generous even to a fault, his genuine manhood shines through every part of his 
life. Witli a quick sense of honor, and the most conscientious regard fni- truth, 
he puts to shame all baseness and falsehood. The ways of his life ne^ er ran 
" in the corrupted currents'' of the world, but always flow from the purest pur- 
poses to the truest results. With a quick perception of character, he is an adept 
in the difficult art of governing. He attracts and attaches all wlio approach him 
by the powerful magnetism of the simplicity of his character and the manliness 
of his bearing. He has a gentle heart, a clear mind, a guileless conscience, and 
a brave soul. A surpassing devotion to duty makes him superior to a wrongful 
intention. An unwearied energy gives vigor to his acts. An unswerving trust 
in God adorns his private and public life. Prudent without timidity, brave 
without rashness, religious without pretence, and wholly engaged in the great 
cause which has enlisted his powers. General Burnside nobly unites the best 
qualities of a soldier and a man. 

In the care of his troops, in tender solicitude and untiring labors for their 
welfare, he is unsurpassed. When in connnand of his regiment, his sole thought 
seemed to be for the benefit of the men intrusted to his guidance. He gave a 
]iersonal attention to all their needs. Always accessible to the humblest private 
in the ranks, he heard with unexampled patience tlie most trivial request or 
complaint, and replied to each with the necessary grave rebuke, the wise counsel, 
or the hopeful encouragement. In the camp he was a daily visitant to the hos- 
pital, the commissariat, the quarters of the men, that he might know, by his own 
inspection, the condition and necessities of all. On the road, he always marched 
on foot, that he might measure the endurance of his men by his own, and inspirit 
tlicm by his example. In the bivouac, his own quarters were the last to be se- 
lected and the last to be prepared. In the field, his bearing was distinguished for 
coolness, courage, and self-possession, while his dispositions for battle insured the 
utmost efficiency of his command. He has carried these qualities to his higher 
positions; and thus, by tlicii' exercise, he awakens tlie sincm'est enthusiasm, and 
ins])ires the mo.st implicit confidence of his soldier.s. From the lowest to the 
highest tliere is but one opinion and one voice. 




FR./IZAR AUGUSTUS ST>'.ARMS 



FRAZAR AUGUSTUS STEARIN'S. 

PROBABLY tliei-e has been no war in modem times in which so many have 
enlisted from a liigh sense of duty, as iu this War of the Second American 
Revolution. The greater part of the thirty undergraduates and numerous i-ccent 
graduates of Amherst College, who are in the army, were not only among the 
best scholars and the most consistent Christians in the institution, but they relin- 
quished literary and scientific culture for the service of their countrv under the 
influence of patriotic and Christian motives. 

This was eminently true of the young hero who fell fighting so bravely near 
the first gun captured from the enemy in the battle of Newbern. He was a 
Clii-istian hero. lie went to the war with the same conscientious persuasion of a 
call from God, with which the Christian missionary goes to preach the gospel to 
the heathen. He met danger and death on the field of battle in the same spirit 
of self-sacrificing devotion to a sacred cause, in which the martyr goes to the 
scaflbld or the stake. 

Fraz.\r Augustus Stearns, the second son of Reverend J'rcsident Stearns, 
of Amherst Ci)!lege, was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on the 21st of June, 
18-10. He was, therefore, not yet twenty-two years of age at the time of his 
death. When a small boy, under the influen'^e of parental teaching, and espe- 
cially of the unconsci(Hxs education of a Christian family, he was the subject of 
deep religious experiences, and, with the same decision of character with which 
in after-j-ears he devoted himself to the service of his country, he signified repeat- 
edly to his parents his desire to profess Christ before men ; and having at length 
obtained their consent, he was received, at the age of twelve, into full communion 
in the church of which his father was pastor, and in which he had lieen baptized 
in infancy. 

Educated chiefly in the common schools and the high school of Cambridge, 
after pursuing preparatory studies a little time at Phillips Academy, Andover, 
in August, 1857, he entered the freshman class in Amherst College. 

In his boyhood, he was fond of youthful sports, without being addicted to 

the vices which are sometimes connected with them. He abhorred every thing 

that was low and mean, and never feared to express his indignation at vulgarity 

and profaneness. He refused to associate with boys who indulged in such habits 
26 



154 notai;le men. 

and wouM })art company under the most trying circumstances with tbuse who 
used improper language. Moi'e instances than one might be rehitcd of such high 
moral courage in his early boyhood. 

In college, his taste was for the mathematical and physical sciences rather 
than the classics; though when he rejoined the institution after an absence of 
two years occasioned by severe sickness, and after a voyage to India, from which 
he returned physically and mentally a new man, he took hold of Greek, and 
indeed of all his studies, witli a resolution which would have nuide him a supe- 
rior scholar. Ho excelled in writing and speaking, and won the first prize at the 
close of his sophomore year, in the prize declamation at commencement; though, 
with cliaracteristic generosity, he insisted on giving it to a classmate, who was 
poor, and who from untoward circumstances had not a i'air chance in the compe- 
titiim. He left college for the war, having completed only half of his academic 
course, bat fully resolved, if his life was spared, to return and graduate. 

The fall of Fort Sumter, which roused the nation from its slumbers, stirred 
voung Stearns like the sound of a trumpet. On that dark and portentous Sun- 
day, when so many ministers preached and so many congregations heard the 
word under the fearful foreboding that the flag of secession already darkened the 
cpntal, the ardent and generous young men of the college thought it no breach 
of the Sabbath to enroll a company to march, if needed, ior the defence of Wesh- 
ington. At the head of this list of young patriot warriors was written the name 
of Frazar A. Stearns. With the passing away of immediate danger, ceased the 
call for immediate action, and the students consented to relinquish the proposed 
inditurv company for a general drill of the college. But he never ceased to 
revolve the question of duty to his country; and after the disaster at Bull Eun, 
he came to his father with the news, saying, '' We have been beaten, and now 
there is a call for Frazar Stearns." His father, of course, counselled against pre- 
cipitation, and expressed his belief that the time had not yet come for young men 
to enlist who were in a course of education. Frazar acquiesced for a season , 
but the fire .still burned in his bones. As he conversed from time to time with 
his friends, his arguments grew clearer and his convictions became deeper, till at 
length his father and uncles — educated men and ministers of the gospel, who 
could not be carried away with a mere impulse of youthful enthusiasm — were 
constrained to feel that he had a call from God, which they dared not resist, and 
they gave him the hand, saying, "Frazar, if such are your motives, such your 
convictions of duty, go; and God be with you." 

With rare thoughtfulness for one of his age, and with that unconscious fore- 
sight of the issue — wdiich, when it does not take the form of a presentiment, often 
seems to foreshadow an eaily death — he arranged his letteis and papers; made an 
inventory of all artieh's of value, and left written directions for their disj>osal if 



frazat; AUGi'srrs steakxs. 155 

he sli(jul(l he killed in battle. lie spent hours in conversation with his physician 
about the wounds and diseases of soldiers, their fatigues on the march, their 
dangers in the camp, and their exposures in battle, and went to the v;ar with a 
knapsack of medicines and a stock of useful ideas as well as warm sympathies, 
fully resolved to be the medical and moral adviser as well as the military com- 
niaader of the men who might be intrusted to his charge. Meanwhile, he had 
been most assiduously training himself in the use of the bayonet and the re- 
volver, and in the sword-exercise, under the best teachers he could find in Am- 
herst and in Boston. 

Young Stearns entered the service with the commission of first-lieutenant in 
Company I, of the twenty-first regiment of Massachusetts volunteers. lie had 
not long been stationed in Annapolis bcibre General Keno oll'crcd him an ap- 
pointment on his staff; but he declined the Hattering offer, preferring an inferior 
station which brought him in more immediate contact with his men, whom he 
was intent on making better soldiers, better men, and, if possible, Christians, by 
his direct personal influence. In camp and on picket duty he was a rigid disci- 
plinarian. Wherever he was, there was order and obedience. No man attempted 
more than once to disobey him. If his orders were not executed when given at 
second hand, he had only to give the word of command in person, and he met 
with instant obedience. In thorough drilling of his men, lie was surpassed by 
no officer in the regiment. As military tactics had been his daily study and 
practice for months, so now, during the months which intervened before his 
regiment was called into actual service, he made it his daily business to train his 
soldiers to the prompt and perfect execution of every military movement which 
could be required of them. He knew his own place as a man " under authority," 
and kept it, occupied it, filled it to the full ; and he expected his men to know 
and occupy and fill theirs. He expected every man to do his duty ; but he ex- 
pected no more subordination and obedience, no more selfdenial or hardship 
from his men, than he was willing to submit to and did submit to himself, every 
day of his life. He ruled by example as well as by command. His character 
carried more weight than his office or even his personal presence. 

He was considered a kind of prodigy at Annapolis. He was a soldier who 
never drank intoxicating drinks, nor used tobacco, nor swore, nor lost his tem- 
per; who always maintained his dignity, and yet always manifested the liveliest 
sympathy for the health, character, and happiness of all under his command. 
" There was not a religious service," so writes the chaplain of the regiment, 

" which he did not encourage When I distributed among the men religious 

books, he was among the few officers who always received them gladly. His 
life was an example to officers and men. He was never angry, though often 
exceedingly tried. He never uttered a profane word. His language was gentle- 



156 yOTAKLE MEX. 

mauly to all, and bis bearing I'lill of the dignity of a soldier and tLie ati'aliility of 
a comrade and lirother." Such dignity, combined with such courtesy and kind- 
ness, commanded at once respect and affection. The united influence of his 
discipline and his example operated like a charm in the camp, producing not 
only order and decorum, but manliness, and more or less of the manners of the 
gentleman, if not also of the virtues of the Christian, lie l)ecame, as might be 
expected, a great favorite with the men ; and when he was })romoted to the 
office of acting adjutant of the regiment, the sujicilor officers vied with each 
other in securing for him the appointment, and each claimed him as peculiarly 
his own. He charmed also the families with whom he mingled freely during his 
sojourn at and near the capital of Maryland, not more by his music, of which he 
was a master, than by the rare dignity of his manners and the more rare excel- 
lence of his whole character. And when, at the embarkation of the regiment to 
join the Burnside expedition, his noble form was seen marching at the head of 
the lines, and then bowing reverently while his honored father (who had come to 
take a last farewell of him) commended them to God in public prayer, ho received 
also the blessing and bore away tlie hearts of all who had known him there; a* 
was most affectingly manifested by the many and touching letters of condolence 
which the bereaved parents received from those families after his too speedy 
death. 

Of his participation in the hardships, trials, battles, and victories of the 
Burnside expedition ; his patience, faith, and hope during the dreadful storm at 
sea, and within the Straits of Hatteras ; his constant exposure, steadfast courage, 
repeated wounds, and hair-breadth escapes at Roanoke Island ; and his brilHant 
charge and heroic death in the hard-fought battle at Newbern — it is scarcely' 
necessary to write at length in this private memoir. The daring achievements 
of that expedition, and the part which young Stearns bore in them, are no unim- 
jiortant portion of the public history of the war; and this war will hold no unim- 
portant place in the history of our country in coming centuries. 

In the battle of Roanoke, the twenty-first regiment of Massachusetts volun- 
teers, after lying on their arms through a sleepless and stormy night, and wading 
and cutting their way through almost impenetrable swanijis in the morning, were 
under fire two hours and a half, flanked the enemy's battery and charged upon it 
in the hottest of the fire, and were the first to plant the flag of Massachusetts and 
the Union upon the fortifications. 

In all these hardships and dangers. Adjutant Stearns was always leading the 
men. Says Major Clark, in a priva'e letter: "He was prostrated by a bullet 
which struck the visor of his cap, but immediately sprang to his feet, the blood 
streaming down his face, and rushed forward with his comrades to the charge 
upon the battery. Dunng the same terrific volley from the enemy, a rifle-ball 



FKAZAR AUGUSTUS STEARNS. 157 

passed over his right shoulder and through his eoateolhxr, cutting a shallow 
wound, about three inches in length, on the back of his neck."— "The bullets 
whistled all around me," writes Adjutant Stearns himself, "the cannon-shots 
flew over me, and yet none hit me till the very last. Then, as if God wished to 
show me how kind he was to me, I was hit twice : first by a ball which passed 
within a quarter of an inch of my spine, made a little furrow in my neck, and 
passed through my shii-t, vest, and overcoat; the other, a buckshot, entered my 
cap, passed through, and hit me on the right forehead. I immediately fell, half- 
stunned, but soon recovered, and was in the midst of it again. I never felt the 
wound till twenty-four hours after the battle, when it caused me some trouble for 
two or three days, but is now quite well. God grant I may see you all, dear ones, 
agam, and that together we may thank him for preserving you from any harm, 
and me from the bullet and cannon-shot, and more still from the moral pestilence 
of camp-life ! Pray for me that my faith may be strengthened, that my purposes 
may all be changed for righteousness. God grant this unhappy war may cease ! 
He seems to be doing the work now, and I must liope that he will achieve the 
victory for us. But we must give him the credit. As when he told Gideon to 
leave most of his men behind, so now he seems to be working for us. He is our 
best Major-General, and where can the enemy find such an one, though educated 
at West Point, and trained by years of actual experience?" 

After tlie battle, Adjutant Steams was named with special honor in the 
reports of the major, the lieutenant-colonel commanding the regiment, and the 
general of the division. 

The battle of Roanoke was fought on the 8th of February. On the 14th 
of March, the same troops were again engaged in the bloody fight at Newbern, 
with superior numbers, intrenched behind miles of fortifications bristling with 
cannon, and further protected by rifle-pits from approach on the flanks. 

" Adjutant Stearns had never recovered entirely from the excessive flxtigue 
and excitement through which he passed at Roanoke," so writes his friend and 
commanding officer. Colonel Clark— though, with characteristic self-forgetfulness, 
his own letters, all the while, make no mention of the fact to his friends—" and 
at the time of our landing here, he was scarcely fit to leave the ship. I advised 
him to remain behind, but he would not think of it." No sickness but that of 
absolute inability, was sufficient to keep him from the post of duty ; and danger, 
so far from deterring, only beckoned him on to the thickest of the fight. Here,' 
again, his regiment was the first to flank the rebel fortifications ; and while the 
greater part of it was engaged in clearing the rifle-pits, two hundred men, with 
their gallant lieutenant-colonel (Clark) commanding at their head, penetrating 
along the line of the intrenchments, charged upon three thousand of the enemy" 
captured three of the mounted guns in succession, and, though afterward com- 



158 NOTABLE MEN. 

pellecl to fall back before overwlielming numbers, yet, reinforced by the fourtli 
Rhode Island I'eginient, they returned to the charge, and swept all before them. 
Early in this fearful charge, near tlie fiivt gun which was captured from the ene- 
my. Adjutant Stearns fell, leading on his men, and himself fighting fearlessly 
against vastly superior numbers. A Minie ball, entering the right breast, passed 
directly through his body. He lived about two hours and a half, though most 
of the time unconscious — called for water twice — and, with uplifted hands, utter- 
ing for his last words the language of prayer, fell asleep. 

Tiie private who bore him off from the thickest of the battle, writes that he 
has "lost the best friend he had in the army ;"' and with something, perhaps, of 
the extravagance of his countrymen (for he was an Irishman), calls him " the star 
of the regiment, and the noblest soldier the world ever aflbrded, only too brave 
for his own good.'' 

His admired and beloved colonel, his professor in college, and for years one 
of his most intimate friends, we]>t like a child when he heard that his friend, his 
pupil, his brother, his almost son. had been so suddenly snatched away from him. 
"We thought," he writes, "as he had been wounded and so narrowly escajied 
with his life on the 8tli of February, we thought it would l)e the turn of some 
other officer to suffer before him. Alas! death loves a shining mark, and took 
from us the one most universally admired and most highly esteemed. He set 
us an almost perfect examjjle in all his conduct. His faithfulness, efficiency, and 
bravery, were only surpassed by the spotless purity and complete correctness of 
his private life. He lived and died a Christian, in the full assurance of hope and 
faith. He fell while fighting gallantly, in the act of charging upon the enemy, 
in a most severely-contested battle, and on a field where the Union forces won a 
most glorious victory." 

The chaplain speaks of his death as "our greatest loss at the battle of New- 
bern. He had the freshness and ardor of youth, with the courage of a veteran. 
The whole regiment mourn a brave officer lost, a loved brother dead." 

General Burnside issued the following order: 

'■ Head-quarters, Department of North Carolina, 
"Special Order No. 52. '• Newberx. Marcli \ijtli, 1862. 

"The commanding general directs that the six-pounder brass gun taken in 
the battery when Adjutant Stearns, of the twenty-first Massachusetts volunteers, 
met his death, while gallantly fighting at the battle of Newbern, shall be pre- 
sented to his regiment, as a monument to the memorj- of a brave man. 

"By command of Brigadier-General A. E. Burnside. 

" Lieutenant-Colonel Clark, ccmniamUng. Lewis Richsioxd. Assist. Adj.-General.'' 

The regiment voted to present the gun to the college of which Adjutaut 
Stearns was a member, and of which his father is the president, to be deposited 



i R A Z A K A L' G U S T U S 8 T E A K N S . 159 

there as at once a inoiuuiiciit to liis braveiy, and a just tribute to the patriotism 
and pubUc spirit of the institution. It stands in the college library, bearing as 
an inscription the names of all the members of the regiment who lost their 
lives at Newbern, muler the appropriate caption " DuLCE ET decorum est pro 
PATRIA MORI."* It was One of the old United States guns, manufactured at 
Chicopee, Massachusetts, and carried South by the conspirators to arm the rebel- 
lion. By a just retribution, it returned to the section from which it was stolen. 

The college classmate and fellow-soldier of Stearns, Lieutenant Sanderson, 
with whom he would often pass whole evenings iu talking of their beloved col- 
lege and home and friends, and especially of their home in heaven, and who, 
like him, had been wounded in the battle of Eoanoke, had the melancholy satis- 
faction of accompanying his remains to the residence of his parents. An im- 
mense concourse from the college and the town, from the neighboring towns, 
and from various parts of the commonwealth and the country, assembled in the 
village church at the funeral, drawn by sympathy and a desire to do him honor; 
and a vast procession of students, citizens, and strangers followed the body to its 
last resting-place. Never before was there such a funeral in Amherst. '"Pre- 
cious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints." Precious also in the 
sight of the nation is the death of its patriotic, heroic, Christian young men. 
Sympathy for the " fallen brave," brought home by this war more or less directly 
to the hearts of the whole peojjle, is enriching them with something of their 
heroism. In the m^'sterious providence and grace of God, the soil lately cureed 
with moral ban-ennes?, or grown over with the rank weeds of selfishness, greed 
of gain, and political corruption, sown with their blood, is springing up into a 
plentiful harvest of patriotic, heroic, and Christian virtues. 

It were quite superfluous to sketch the character of Adjutant Stearns. That 
character shone in every form and feature of his tall, erect, and manly person. 
It acted itself out, without disguise or concealment, in all the incidents of his 
short but noble and heroic life. It breathes in gentle yet lofty and earnest tones 
from his confidential letters to his friends. Perhaps courage and a high sense 
of honor were the most marked characteristics of his noble nature. None who 
knew him would hesitate to apply to him the title of " the knight without fear 
and without reproach." But the crown of all his excellences was, that he was a 
Christian. His patriotism was Christian patriotism ; his chivalry, his heroism, 
were everywhere manifestly and distinctively Christian. This is sufiiciently evi- 
dent in his letter written after the battle of Roanoke, and copied in part on a 
former page. All his letters are in the same spirit. Let one or two more brief 

* This wus the motto of the miUtary company organizod iu college, at the time of the fall of Fort 
Sumter. 



160 NOTABLE MEN. 

extracts conclude this biographical sketch, and bear the impress of his own 
words, of his own fearless, generous, self-sacrificing spirit, on the minds of our 
readers : 

AxXAPOLis, »Sep?. 2bt}i. " How can you terrify one who has made up his 
mind that his life is his country's ; who can look death in the face, and expects it 
at every turn? If I can serve my country better by dying now than by living, 
I am ready to do it. Meantime, pray for me without ceasing, not that I may 
return safely, but that God may bless me spiritually." 

Anxapolis, Oct. 6th. " Oh, that I could see the country awake to their 
danger ! that I could see them all on their knees in prayer to God to forgive 
their sins, and help them in the right ! The war now before us is not unlike 
that of the Kevolution. We must give not only our treasures and our sons, but 
ourselves. I want to see the whole country awake ; it seems as though they 
were all dead or asleep. From all sides comes the cry, ' More men, more men — 
men of self-sacrificing spirit, men who know how^ to die !' " 

ROAXOKE Island, March 9th, the evening before the expedition set sail for 
Newbern. " These are horrible times, when every man's hand is against his 
neighbor. But I liave hope. Let the North pray more. Let them give the 
glorv to God, and not to men, and these days which are rolling by shall be full 
of glorious victories, which ai'c soon, very soon, to bring a peace." 







Vv- * 



-*AS''.-y C-e.. E.TeTiK" 



Col. ELMER E. ELLSXrORTH. 



Tire Zinjm/es. 27.Y. . 



EPHRAIM E. ELLSWORTH. 

EPHRAIM ELMER ELLSWORTH, of the eleventh New York volunteers 
(New York Fire Zouaves), was born at Mechanicsville, a small village in 
the towns of Stillwater and Halfmoon, in the county of Saratoga, New York, on 
the 23d of April, 1837. 

The distress which swept over the countr}- in consequence of the financial 
difficulties of the times, ingulfed the parents of the infant m poverty immedi- 
ately after his birth, and the earlier years of his life were spent in witnessing the 
buffeting of fortune by his parents, and in sharing their trials. At an early 
ao-e the science of war arrested his attention ; and with great difficulty, and at 
great sacrifices, he fitted himself for a cadetship at West Puiiit; but the want 
of political influence in the poor and friendless boy, rendered all his endeavors 
unavailing, and blasted all his hopes. 

Disappointed, but without desi^onding, while yet a lad lie turned from the 
home of his childhood, and from the aged couple whom he loved, to seek and to 
secure his own fortune by his own unaided efforts ; and after spending some time 
ill Troy, and in the city of New York, he established himself as a patent-agent 
in the thriving city of Chicago, Illinois. Notwithstanding the promise of success, 
to which his diligence and attention entitled him, he was again doomed to disap- 
pointment, through the fraudulent practices of one in whom he had confided ; 
and he commenced the study of the law, supporting himself meanwhile by 
copying, during the hours which are usually appropriated to repose. 

During this diversified career, young Ellsworth never lost sight of the mili- 
tary of the country, or wholly abandoned his earlier purposes. He witnessed 
the sad effects of imperfect militia laws, inefficiently administered by incompe- 
tent officers ; and he aspired to the honor of being instrumental in elevating the 
standard of military discipline in the local militia of the United States. With 
this view, he carefully examined the different systems of tactics which had been 
published in the United States, and having become satisfied that the habits and 
tastes of the people were better adapted to the discipline and manoeuvres of light 
infantry, he adopted Hardee's modifications of the French Zouave system as a 
basis ; and from that he constructed a new and peculiar system, differing some- 
what from any which had been before in use. His next step was to organize a 

28 



162 XOTABI. K MEX. 

model ci-)rps, with whicli to test the iiewlv-rornied systeiii, and thi-ough whieh to 
introduce it to the uotiee of the country. A band of respectable, temperate, and 
athletic young men responded to his invitation; and on the 4th of May, 185!.>, 
were organized, under his direction, the well-known United States Zouaves of the 
city of Chicago. Adojjtiug the most rigid of the codes of temperance, tlie use 
of intoxicating drinks or tobacco, in any form or at any time, was made cause 
for immediate expulsion ; and the most laborious modes of exercise were prac- 
tised to habituate the young city-bred recruits, to the arduous duties attending a 
tour of active duty in the field. Heavily-laden knapsacks, prolonged drills, 
in quick and double-quick time, and other artificial means, were regularly and 
systematically employed, to inure the men to fatigue ; while, at the same time, 
the greatest attention was paid to the })ractice of the nuinual, to the promptitude 
and precision of the facings, and to the celerity of the different movements. 
After having spent about a year in the training of this company of light troops 
— the ri.sing fame of which gradually extended from one extremity of the Union 
to the (.)ther — Captain Ellsworth entered it, in competition for a stand of colors, 
which had been offjred for the best-drilled company of citizen soldiery, by the 
United States Agricultural Association at the annual exhibition ; and the young 
commander enjoyed the pleasure of carrying away with his company all the 
honors, as well as the coveted prize for which he had contended. 

This triumph, heralded through the press, increased the measure of Captain 
Ellsworth's flime ; and, in July, 1860, the Z(.)uaves made a tour to the East, for 
the purpose of testing their efficiency with that of the justly celebrated com- 
mands in Boston, New York, and other principal cities of the seaboard states, 
and of giving them an opportunity to compete with them for the custody of the 
prize. 

The novel character of their uniform, conibined with the equally novel sys- 
tem of tactics which they used, and their a{)parcnt iiulillerence to the greatest 
amount of overwhelming labor and fatigu(,', insured for the Zouaves the most 
enthusiastic welcome wherever they went; and after a long absence they re- 
turned to their western homes, laden with well-earned honors, freelv bestowed on 
them by the multitudes who witnessed their drills and jxarades. 

Immediately after liis i-eturn to Chicago, so great was the military enthu- 
siasm which prevailed among the young men of that city, a volunteer regiment 
was organized, and the commaud tendered to Captain Ellsworth, which he 
jjromptly accepted. "Without any unnecessary delay, he proceeded to instruct 
his new command; and soon afterward he tendered it to the newly-elected 
governor of the state, for active duty, whenever its services might lie inquired. 

In the Presidential clertioii of 1860, Captain Ellsworth took an active 
part ill bclialf of Mr. Lincoln: and when that gentleman proceeded to Washing- 



EPIIUAIM E. ELLS WOK Til. 163 

toil in the following spring, for the pui-pose of assuming the responsible duties of 
his office, he accompanied him as one of his party of escort. 

Soon afterward he received a commission as lieutenant in the regular ser- 
vice, preliminary to his entrance into the department of war, as the head of the 
proposed bureau of the militia ; but the opening of hostilities in the South, by 
the attack on Fort Sumter, which aroused the hitherto dormant energies of the 
North, also liberated Ellsworth from the monotony of bureau service, and se- 
C'lred his more useful services, as a disciplinarian, to his outraged country. 

He had long known the peculiar characteristics of the firemen of the city 
of New York, and had coveted an opportunity to employ thera in the particu- 
lar service to which he had devoted himself As soon as possible, therefore, 
after the publication of the President's proclamation, calling for seventy-five 
tliousand men from the militia of the several states, Colonel Ellsworth proceeded 
to New York and organized a regiment from among the firemen of that city 
Ten companies were filled within two days after the opening of the rolls ; and 
with his whole soul resting on the work, he immediately proceeded to insti-uct 
his men in the primary branches of their military education. The peculiarly 
winning manners of the colonel instantly gained for him the afi'ections of his 
men, and he acquired perfect control of them, notwithstanding the remarkable 
impatience of control which so strongly marked their character. 

On the 29th of April, all things requisite having been provided, the 
regiment prepared to move to the city of Washington. Stands of colors were 
presented to it with appropriate addresses, by the fire department, by Mrs. 
Augusta Astor^ — the accomplished lady of John Jacob Astor, Jr., and by the 
ladies at the Astor House ; when, under an escort of upwards of five thousand 
firemen in uniform, it proceeded to the foot of Canal street, and embarked on 
board the steamship Baltic, bound for Annapolis, Maryland. 

On its arrival at Annapolis, the regiment moved forward to Washington ; 
and on the 2d of May, it entered that city, amid an ovation which was 
equalled only by that which attended its departure from New York. The hall 
of representatives, in the Capitol, was set apart for the quarters of the regiment ; 
and there it remained for several days. The colonel, meanwhile, employing his 
time in the instruction of his command in the duties of their new profession. 

On the 23d of May, orders were received by Colonel Ellsworth to hold his 
command in readiness to move into Virginia in the following night ; and at a 
late hour on that day, he called his men around him and addressed them in his 
familiar and afieetionate style, in the following words : 

"Boys, no doubt you felt surprised on hearing my orders to be in readiness 
at a moment's notice, but I will explain all as far as I am allowed. 

" Yesterday forenoon I understood that a movement was to be made against 



164 



NOTABLE MEN. 



Alexandria. Of course, I was ou the qui vive. I went to see General Mansfield, 
the commander at Washington, and told him that I would (?onsider it as a per- 
sonal affront if he would not allow us to have the right of the line, which is our 
own, as the first volunteer I'cgiment sworn in for the war. 

" All that I can tell you is, to prepare yourselves for a nice little sail, and, 
at the end of it, a skirmish. 

" Go to your tents, lie down and take your rest till two o'clock, when the 
boat arrives, and wc go forward to victory or death. 

" When we reach the place of destination, act as men ; do nothing to shame 
the regiment; show the enemy that you are men, as well as soldiers; and that 
you will treat them with kindness until they force 3'ou to use violence. I want 
to kill them with kindness. 

"Go to your tents, and do as I tell you." 

He then proceeded to his quarters, and addressed a letter to his bcthi-othed, 
and the following to his parents : 

" Head-quarters, First Zouavep, Camp Linxoln, 

" Washington, May 'lid. 

"My Dear Father and Mother: The regiment is to move across the 
river to-night. We have no means of knowing what reception we are to meet 
with. I am inclined to the opinion that our entrance into the city of Alexan- 
dria will be hotly contested, as I am informed that a large force have arrived 
there to-day. Should that happen, my dear parents, it may be my lot to be in- 
jured in some manner. 

" Whatever ma/ happen, cherish the consolation that I was engaged in the 
performance of a sacred duty ; and to-night, thinking over the probabilities of 
the morrow, and the occun-ences of the past, I am perfectly content to accept 
whatever my fortune may be. confident that He who noteth even the fall of a 
sparrow, will have some purpose even in the fate of one like me. 

" My darling and ever-loved parents, good-by. God bless, protect, and care 
for you. Elmer." 

During the night, as has been intimated, the Zouaves embarked on the 
steamers Baltimore and Mount Vernon, and, preceded by the steam sloop-of-war 
Pawnee, they advanced down the Potomac to the city of Alexandria, for the 
purpose of co-operating in a proposed attack on that city. The Pawnee had 
already summoned the town to surrender when the Zouaves reached it ; and as 
the two transports approached the wharf, the enemy's sentinels discharged their 
pieces in the air and retired. 

Immediately afterward the regiment debarked, company E, Captain Lever- 
idge, having been the first to go ashore, and it was immediately formed in line on 



E P H R A I M E . ELLSWORTH. 165 

the street facing the river. After having detailed company E to occupy and 
destroy the railroad track leading to Richmond, for the purpose of cutting off the 
enemy's communication, he took Lieutenant Winser and a file of men, and, in 
person, proceeded to cut oQ" the telegraph wires leading from the city. They 
marched in double-quick time, and had proceeded only a short distance, when 
the attention of Colonel Ellsworth was attracted to a large secession flag, which 
floated from the roof of the Marshall House, a hotel kept hy J. W. Jackson. 
Colonel Ellsworth, notwithstanding the weakness of his party, and his want of 
adequate support, immediately undertook to remove the obnoxious ensign ; and 
for that purpose he entered the hotel, demanding from a man whom he met in 
the hall — " "Who put that flag up ?" and received as an answer, " I don't know ; 
I am a boarder here." 

The party immediately proceeded to the roof of the building, and the col- 
onel cut down the colors. As they were returning, they were met in one of the 
halls of the building by the same person who had previously stated that he was 
a boarder — who was, in fact, the landlord of the hotel — who, meanwhile, had 
armed himself with a double-barrelled gun. Rushing forward, he aimed at 
Colonel Ellsworth's breast, which was observed by Francis E. Brownell, a pri- 
vate of company A, who was one of the i^arty. Before the latter succeeded in 
throwing up the gun, one barrel was discharged, the contents of which entered 
the colonel's breast, instantly killing him. He dropped forward with that heavy, 
horrible, headlong weight which always comes of sudden death inflicted in this 
manner. His assailant then turned to give the contents of the other barrel to 
Brownell ; but at that moment, the ball from Brownell's rifle was sent into his 
forehead ; and, for the purpose of insuring the retributive deed of justice, the 
young Zouave followed up his fire with an energetic thrust with his sabre-bay- 
onet, which passed through the body of the assailant, and he, also, fell to the 
floor, perfectly dead. 

There is little doubt that Jackson acted on the im23ulse of the moment, with- 
out meditation, and not expecting co-operation. Considering that his house had 
been invaded, he determined to punish what, in his passion, he thought to be an 
intrusion on his rights. On the other hand. Colonel Ellsworth unnecessarily 
exposed himself, without sufficient support, in the heart of an enemy's town ; 
and ventured, with unaccountable rashness, with a squad of men, to do that 
which required a regiment for its execution. 

The body of Colonel Ellsworth, after remaining at the Marshall house a short 
time, was removed to the navy-3'ard, at Washington, whence it was carried 
to the executive mansion. After lying in state in the east room for several 
hours, the remains were again removed, with every possible demonstration of re- 
spect, to the railroad station ; and ou the entire route, from Washington to Me- 



166 NOTABLE MEN. 

chanicsvillc, where the remains were interred, the funeral train was received by 
throngs of anxious and sori'owful spectators. 

The iutelligence of Colonel Ellsworth's death, as it was received tlirough- 
out the extended country, excited the sympathies of all classes for his aged 
pnrcnts; and Brownell, his faithful avenger, was honored with the most marked 
at teutions. 






^&(*''W!«)!ji3 




IION^ GIDEON WELLES 

St.rRETAHv OF r^it M-.v *. 



MK'.v YOHK.r, p ptjTirA:.; 



GIDEOI^r WELLES. 

THE subject of this sketch is a native of GLastenbuiy, in the state of Con- 
necticut, where he was born in July, 1802. In early life, he applied his 
energies to the study of law, first in the office of Thomas S. Williams, the chief- 
justice of Connecticut, and subsequently under the direction of William W. 
Ellsworth. He entered upon the editorial duties of the Hartford Times, in 
January, 1826, and in the following year, was elected to the legislature of his 
native state. Upon the breaking up of the Republican and Federal parties 
about this time, he, with other influential and well-known men, aided in the or- 
ganization of the Democratic party, which lent its support to Andrew Jackson, 
and finally elevated him to the presidency of the United States. 

Mr. Welles continued in the editorial department of the Hartford Times, 
until near the termination of Jackson's administration, and was one of its prin- 
cipal contributors until the repeal of the Missouri compromise. He was repeat- 
edly elected to the state legislature of Connecticut, until the year 183.5, at which 
time he received from the General Assembly the appointment of comptroller of 

the state. 

On the election of John M. Niles to the Senate of the United States, Mr. 
Welles was selected to succeed him in tlie post-office at Hartford. Here he re- 
mained until 18-41. The following year he was elected comptroller of the state 
by the people (that office having been made elective by an alteration of the con- 
stitution of the state), and continued in that position until 184:-4. His adminis- 
tration of the duties of this office was distinguished by ability, and was eminently 
satisfactory to the people whom he served. From 1846 until 1849, Mr. Welles 
occupied a prominent place in one of the offices in the navy department at 
Washington, continuing therein until, by a change of law, civilians were excluded 
from all naval bureaus in the departments of the United States. 

On the adjustment of the financial questions during the administration of 
President Polk, says a cotemporary, Mr. Welles considered the mission of the 
old parties at an end— nothing but their organizations and the prejudices and 
antagonisms engendered remaining. In the mean time, new questions arising 
relating to the territorial policy of the federal government as connected there- 
with, Mr. Welles, adhering to his original principles, maintained the Jeffersonian 



168 NOTABLE MEN. 

doctriue, that slavery was the creature of local law, and should not be extended 
into the territories through the agency or instrumentality of the government. 
On the repeal of the Missouri compromise, followed by the Kansas aggressions, 
rendeiing the institution of a new party organization necessary, the Republican 
party sprung into existence. ' Sympathizing in this movement, Mr. Welles took 
an early and active part in Connecticut, and was, in 1856, the candidate of the 
Republican jiarty for governor of that state. 

From the day of its inception, Mr. Welles threw his whole energy and power 
into the Republican movement. In 1S56 he was appointed by the convention in 
Philadelphia a member of the Republican National Committee, and, as one of 
its executive members from its commencement, was chairman of the Connecticut 
delegation to the convention which met at Chicago, Illinois, and nominated Mr. 
Lincoln for the presidency. 

For many years Mr. Welles has been an active and jDrolitic political writer, 
and his essays have largely contributed to lend interest to many of the leading 
journals, and character to the politics of tlie country. Among these papers, 
beside those of Connecticut, have been the Globe and Union at Washington, and 
the Evening Post at New York. The series of articles on the history of nullifi- 
cation, which appeared in the Evening Post, exhibit in a very marked manner his 
historical knowledge and statesmanship. 

In March, 1861, on the accession of Abraham Lincoln to the presidency, 
Mr. Welles was tendered the office of secretary of the navy, and on the 7th of 
that month, he was confirmed by the Unite(i States Senate. This recognition of 
his eminent abilities, profound sagacity, and stanch, unyielding Republicanism, 
was a source of the highest gratification to his personal friends in Connecticut, 
as well as to the peoj^le of the country. " It is not invidious in this connec- 
tion," says a writer, " to remark that his friends are not inclined to boast of the 
out-going secretary, twice deliberately censured by the House of Representa- 
tives ; but they have an immovable certainty of conviction that at the expiration 
of his term, Mr. Welles will return to Connecticut with the universal testimony 
that he has discharged his duties with spotless integrity, unwearying industry, 
unshaken fii-mness, and unimpeachable patriotism."' 




MiVT THEODORE VVnKTHHOT^ 



THEODOEE WH^TTHEOP. 

rpiIEODORE WINTnEOP, who fell in the battle of Great Bethel, Virginia, 
M June 10th, 1861, was born in New Haven, Connecticut, September 21st, 
1828. He was a lineal descendant of the first John Winthrop, wlio in 1()30 led 
out from England one of the noblest of the many Puritan colonics, and became 
himself governor of the commonwealth of Massachusetts. In the next genera- 
tion we find the second John Winthrop juiniiig the Connecticut colony, soon 
raised to its chief magistracy, and in 1665 procuring for her from the cnnvn that 
charter of privileges which became the herald and nurse of her future indepen- 
dence, and which, in 1688, she held against the threats and baits of the throne 
and its royal rejDresentative. Thus Winthrop died to maintain the I'ij^hts now 
and ever supjjorted by liis ancestors. It was then the colony against the founder. 
It is now the country against the state. The one was a protest of a mature 
daughter against a false and cruel mother: the other is a protest of the head and 
heart and soul against the hand or foot which would bo separated from the nour- 
ishing body of which it is a living member. Later still the family furnished yet 
another governor, and have in every succeeding generation shared her jJrotection 
and dignities. 

Major Winthrop's father was Francis Bayard Winthrop, a gentleman of 
wealth and education, who was graduated from Yale College in 180-1, and died 
at his residence in New Haven in 1811. His mother is a grand-daughter of 
President Dwight, and a sister of President Wolsey — the latter almost a syno- 
nym for scholarship, manners, and a Cliristianized Roman virtue. Thus Win- 
throp's very name is pervaded with New England virtues and memories — an 
aristocratic name, if one can bring himself to utter a term so fraught with mean- 
ness, pride, and tyranny, so hateful to a Christian republican ; for, in spite of all 
levelling, social theories, blood is character. The Edwardses, the Dwights, the 
Wolseys, and the Winthrops, did meet in the antecedent blood of Theodoi'e 
Winthrop, the soldier, and went to mould and inspire the future hero. We are 
each the resultant of past forces ; and not only the looks and tones, the habits 
and traits of our fathers, but their spirit, their sentiment, and their " faith un- 
feigned," leave their invisible, silent deposits in our veins. 

As a boy. Major Winthrop is described as fair and ]ialo in feature, but not 
29 



170 XOT.vni.E MKX. 

sickly, delicate in frame, neat in habits, (|uick anil rather precocious in stndies. 
lie entered Yale from the welhknown school of Messrs. French, of New Haven, 
and was siraduated with the class of 1S48. At first he seemed indiifercnt to lit- 
erary success ; hut about the middle of his course his s])irit received a mighty 
momentum, as if a new soul possessed him. Always highly reflective beyond 
Ills years, tlic thought that he was the eldest son, and must sustain the ancestral 
honors bv his personal character and deeds, together Avith the solemn shadow of 
life whicli falls heavilv cm every sensil>le and conscientious youth as he passes 
on through college, awoke him to the intenscst activitv. The result of this dis- 
cipline of thought was soon evinced in his sharing the honor, though not the 
prize, of tlie senior Berkleian with one clas-smate, and in his wresting, by severe 
comj>ctition, from another prominent scholar, the Clark scholarship, then for the 
first time put on a foundation. This contest placed him on perhaps the most 
honorable list which Yale presents, the " Scholars of the House ;" and was more 
significant of power, since the ordeal was new. The later "Biennial"' had not 
been inausjuratcd. 

Soon after graduation, Winthrop, with Rutledge of South Carolina, and oth- 
ers, formed the first class in the ''School of Philosophy and Arts;" a department 
generously established the year previous, and opening before the youthful scholar 
a broader range of stndies worthy of his best ambition. As the winter wore 
awav, Winthrop's mind proved of a finer grain than had been suspected. He 
loved metaphysics, and, without remarkable talent for logical inquiry, entered 
with keen and penetrative sagacity into the vast questions of the infinite, and 
the unknown, and the phenomenal — the vasta semina rerinn which will loom up 
around the chaotic mind of youth. Winthrop seems then to have had a clear, 
neat, keen intellect, and to have been earnest and tender in spirit, manly in 
tastes, noble in resolves, high-l)rcd in manners, and showing that poetic refine- 
ment and almost ethereal . delicacy of sentiment which usually go with the fine 
organism of the Saxon. 

But this severe mental work, added to private literary studies, proved too 
much for his frame. His physicians told him he must travel. Giving up the 
plans of theology, literature, and law, which he had successively formed in 
choosing a profession, he embarked in July, 184:9, for Europe. By his journal, 
we find him arriving at London, Augiist 28th; in Paris, November 23d; and at 
Rome, January 9th. With eyes, ear.s, and pen continually busy, he spends 
February in traversing eastern Italy, March in Greece, April in northern Italy, 
and, after tramping in a sturdy pedestrian tour through Germany and Swit- 
zerland, returns to Paris in September. To enter and mingle thus in tlie 
historic gltirics of the Old World, was a pi-ivilcge longed for from childhood; 
and vet his itineraries sliow tliat travel cultured and broadened his observing 



THEODORE WI NTH Ror. 171 

miud only to sadden it. In Loudon, at the outset of liis journey, lie writes, 
" I am half-dead in body and mind ;" and at Paris, at its close, he bitterly 
exclaims on his birth-day, "Life at ^^resent offers me no hope." This subtle, 
pervasive melancholy was due less to disease than the fine structure of his mind. 
Nothing can exceed the sufferings of a gifted youth who is conscious of power, 
yet unable to gauge that power, determine its true field, and realize it in action. 
He longs to traverse the sea of life where his companions have wandered before 
him, hearing in the distance its tumultuous waves, each crested witli hopes yet 
dark below, the grave of many projects. Full of allusions to death, he dreads it 
not. It is the premature decay of mental health, this dying before one has half 
lived or even begun to live, that cast down his high and regnant soul. In his 
last years, philosophy, religion, and worldly knowledge, brought him to a " se- 
rene and upper air," which no such fears could disturb. In Greece alone he 
becomes buoyant and elastic. It was sacred ground, where heroes called to his 
classic mind from every hill and stream and valley ; a land pervaded with higb 
resolves, long since made good in history. He, too, could become all he wished ; 
for, to a true heart, a clear purpose is more inspiring even than achievement. 

In April, 1851, three months after his return, Mr. Winthrop entered the 
Pacific Mail Steamship Company, at the invitation of W. H. Aspinwall, Esq., 
whose acquaintance he had made in Europe. His diaries show him still alive to 
poetry, metaphysics, criticisms ; still wrestling with the problem of the life of 
the body and the higber life of the soul. In one place he says strongly : " Men 
die for three reasons ; because they have, or cannot, or will not, achieve their 
destiny. As for me, I ivould belong to the first class ; but, finding myself in the 
third, prefer, even with a shock to my jjride, to be ranked in the second, and pray 
that the fruitless struggle may be soon ended." He fears that he cannot realize 
a perfect manhood ; and yet who would have thought that such pensiveuess 
could underlie so much life, action, and noble feeling? 

In September, Mr. Winthrop recrossed the Atlantic, to place Mr. Aspin- 
wall's son and nephew at school in Switzerland, and, after revisiting some of the 
more interesting portions of Germany, enters upon his old duties in January, 
1852. The ensuing autumn finds him in Panama, in the employment of the 
steamship company, and almost well and hapjDy. The tropics, where physical 
life is most intense, varied, and perfect, is a new world. Every tiling invites 
and promises adventure. The spirit of travel is strong upon him, and he cannot 
be quiet. Nature speaks, and he is her child, and must ever listen with rever- 
ence and joy to her many voices. After often traversing the Isthmus with the 
treasure- parties, lie returned home by San Francisco. Here the observer, poet, 
thinker, is busy. The mines of California, the filthy delusions of Utah, sickness 
at the Dalles of the ColumT)ia, the hospitalities of Governor Ogden of the Hud- 



172 NOTABLE MEN. 

sou's Bay Company, perils from treaclieroTis Indians, the wilderness, the desert, 
and the mountains, crowd his note-book with thrilling incident and vivid pic- 
tures. These are partly cniljodied in '■ Juhu Brent, " and a volume of Sketches, 
yet to he published. 

He returns to the counting-room in November; but his heart and fancy are 
still abroad. Accordingly, iu January, IfSoi, with Mr. Aspinwall's consent, he 
jiiiiis Lieutenant Strain's expedition to jirospect for a ship-canal among the Sier- 
ras of the Isthmus, and would have perished from hardships had he not wandered 
from his party and been forced to make his way back to the ship. Returning to 
New York, he began in March the study of law' in the office of Charles Tracy, 
E.sq. ; and after his admission to the bar, in 1855, remained with him as clerk 
another year. 

The following summer finds him travelling in Maine with Church the artist, 
and under their mutual inspiration he drinks in nature with the soul of a poet 
and the eye of a painter. lie returned to enter the political campaign of 1856. 
Long since a Republican in heart and by scholarship, he canvassed for Fremont 
in Pennsylvania, entering with all his energies into that conflict between slave- 
ocracy and liberty of which the present civil war is the bloody consummation. 
America, to use his own strong words, seemed — 

" A noble Innii to stride atliwart .ind wake 
All its myriads up to noble thou^lit ; 
Deej) sleep of thousuud liearts to break, 
Till great delivtraiiee is wrought!" 

After the issue, he established himself in law at St. Louis; but the climate and 
life not suiting, he returned in July, 1S58, to find at last his true calling — the 
pleasing, perilous field of literature and authorship. Never did a writer use more 
conscientious energy. He studied, read, wrote, and rewrote, mastered botany, 
and travelled by every method ; so that the thought, the quotation, the style, 
the features, might be perfect — coming ever near the face and heart of his great 
teacher. Nature. " The March of the Seventh New York Regiment to "Wash- 
ington," and "Love and Skates," tw^o well-known contributions to the Atlantic 
Monthly, "Cecil Dreemc," "John Brent," and "Edwin Brothertoft," arc already 
published; while a volume of travels is promised- — but a small portion of 
the embryo novels, tales, essays, and jiocms, which shine among his papers. 
The prelude has become, Avith liis deeds, the whole drama, " John Brent" espe- 
cially abcntnds in masterly single pictures of scenes and characters; while all his 
works are marked by a clear, neat, antithetic style, and sublimed by just, wami, 
nobly humane sentiments. Here and there we find a broad generalization, show- 
ing that fine philoso])hy which the deeper novelist always draws from. 



TUEODOKE WINTIIROP. 



173 



But, at the fall of Sumter, Wintbrop dropped the pen. and grasped the 
sword. The acts which followed all know. lie joined the seventh regiment at 
New York; marched with it to Washington; became a member of General 
Butler's staff, as aid and military secretary, at Fortress Monroe; and aided in 
})laniiing the attack on the batteries at Great Bethel, where, on the disastrous 
10th of June, ho fell in the van, his firm wiry form erect, waving his sword, and 
calling his comrades on into the very jaws of death. 

And yet he did not die, he cannot die. The brave, like the good, die never. 
He lives — destined to be an inspiring historic name of the war. 

But Winthrop's life and death are best sung by himself, in his own poems : 



" March we must, ever wearily, 

March we will ; true meu will bo true 

" Mine be a life 
Of struggle and endurance, and a free 
Dash at the fates which front us terribly I 
Certain bUss, yet nobler effort still I 
Grander duties, gemmed with finer joys. — 
He sleeps I Ah, well 1 not on some field 
Where victor charge and victor shout, 
Ringing through feeble pulses, pealed 
As when a falchion smites a shield. 
And dying hearts, too happy, yield 
Their life with eou(iucring pa-aus out!" 





BBTO. OT,N. LAXliV: U 



FEEDERICK W. LAl^DEE. 

AT a moment of peculiar peril, the nation was called upon to lament the 
death of one of her bravest chiefs. In the midst of the smoke and tumult 
of battle, she paused to twine the cypress-leaf with the laurel she had given him. 

Brigadier-General Frederick "W. Lander was born at Salem, Massachu- 
setts, in the year 1823. Like Putnam, Stark, and Marion, he was born a soldier : 
the profession of arms was a passion with him from his J'outh, and, though the 
graduate of no military academy, he will be remembered among the very ablest 
of those great-hearted gentlemen who have made themselves the bulwark of the 
American republic. 

General Lander's name was first brought prominently before the American 
people in connection with the exploration for a wagon-road to the Pacific, several 
years since. By referring to the state papers, it will be seen how admirably he 
performed his arduous labors. Uis official report to the department proves him 
to have possessed fine literary as well as scientific attainments. He would have 
been a poet of no ordinary power, if he had not been so thoroughly a soldier. 

At the breaking out of the present rebellion, he was assigned by General 
McClellan, then in Western Virginia, a position on his staff. In Lander's cool 
daring throughout that successful campaign, particularly at Philippa and Eich 
Mountain, was the ring of the true metal. The people listened to it with hope. 
Upon General McClellan's appointment to the command of the army of the 
Potomac, General Lander accompanied him, and proved an invaluable auxiliary 
in putting fresh strength into the half-demoralized and dispirited forces. Shortly 
afterward, the government dispatched him upon secret service ; he accomplished 
the delicate task with credit to his own discernment, and to the entire satisfac- 
tion of the President. 

On his return from tne foreign mission, he was immediately placed in com- 
mand of a brigade in General Banks's division ; and at the affair at Edwards's 
FeiTy, on the 22d of October, 1861, he was for the first time wounded, receiving 
a musket-ball in the leg while gallantly leading his men. He was no holiday 
hero. He shared the dangers of the battle with his humblest private. 

The wound was of such a serious nature, that he was obliged to relinquish 
his command for several weeks. How patiently he endured the mere phvsical 



170 NOTABLE MEN. 

suffering, ami bow lie chafed under the galling necessity that kept him a jjrisoncr 
in a sick-room, when his country needed him so much, is known to those whose 
2>rivilege it was to nurse him during that dark period. 

In person, General Lander was a type of strength and masculine beauty. 
Tall of stature, with a countenance that indicated the possession of that impartial 
integrity and nobleness which we associate with the ancient Greek chai-acter, he 
was warnr and loyal in his friendships, but cold and severe to every shape of 
wrouT. His wild frontier experiences had given him something of the impertur- 
bability of an Indian warrior. It has been said that he was insensible to peril. 
He was more than that. No eye was quicker than his to detect danger, but lie 
had that lofty moral courage which taught him to scorn it judiciously. Ilis men 
revered and loved him. The corps which was enlisted in his native city formed 
his body-guard, and followed him to Western Virginia under a pledge to Mrs. 
Lander that they would never leave him upon the field of battle. In case of 
defeat, this devoted band had sworn to die with him. Some four years since. 
General Lander was married to Miss J. M. Davenport, the distinguished tragedi- 
enne, and a most nccomjilished lady. 

Before General Lander had fairly recovered from the effects of his wound, he 
again took the field. He assumed the command of the national forces at Eomney, 
Virginia. A movement on the part of the rebel General Jackson, threatening to 
outflank his troops, rendered it expedient for him to evacuate the position. It 
was his fate to give us but one more instance of his indomitable energy and 
valor. Having discovered that there was a rebel camp at Blooming Gap, he 
marched his four thousand men a distance of thirty-two miles, and completely 
surprised the enemy, capturing no less than seventeen commissioned officers and 
fifty privates. The general, with one of his aides-de-camp. Lieutenant Fitz-James 
O'Brien, dashed in among them, and demanded their surrender, some two min- 
utes before the Union lines reached the spot. The secretary of war complimented 
General Lander in the following letter : 

"War Departmkxt, Wasuington, Fehrvary lltli, 1802. 

" Tlic President directs me to say that he has observed with pleasure the 
aetivitv and enterprise manifested by yourself and the officers and the soldiers 
of "^-our command. You have shown how much may be done in the worst 
weather and worst roads, by a spirited officer at the head of a small force of 
brave men unwilling to waste life in camp when the enemies of their country 
are within reach. 

"Your brilliant success is a happy presage of what may be expecteil when 
the army of the Potomac shall be led to the field by their gallant general. 

"Edwin M. Stanton, Sn-rdari/ of War. 

"To Brigadier-General F. W. Laxdeu." 



FREDERICK W. LANDER. Ill 

The knightly exploit, however, was not without its price. The terrible 
march irritated the wound, which had never ceased to be painful, and brought 
on a complication of diseases. At Camp Cliase, on the 2d of March, 1862, this 
gallant spirit passed 

" To wliero beyond these voieea there is peace." 

He was buried with all the honors that a sorrowful and grateful nation could 
bestow. His name will be woven forever with the annals of the land he loved. 
" History will preserve the record of his life and character, and romance will 
delight in portraying a figure so striking, a nature so noble, and a career so 
gallant."* 

Such is the brief story of a man whose love of country was so pure and 
beautiful, whose heart was so full of all kindly and chivalric qualities, that, at 
firesides where he had never been, women wept for him as if he were their 
brother; and old men said of him, as though he were their son, "Lander is 
DEAD !" 

* General McClellan, in Order No. 8G, announciu;,' Lander's deatli to the army of the Potomac. 

80 





HHiC. r.|-.X 1{0SECHA\-S. USA 



^Y 



WILLIAM STARKE ROSECRAlNrS. 

ILLIAil STAEKE EOSECRANS was born in Kingston, Delaware 
county, Ohio, December 6t'a, 1819. Ilis father emigrated to Ohio from 
the Wyoming valle}^, in 1808. His mother, Jemima Hopkins, was the daughter 
of a Eevolutionary soldier. His early life was passed in close application to 
study, and in liis eighteenth year he entered the United States military academy 
at West Point ; whence he graduated, third in mathematics and fifth in general 
merit, in 1842. lie received the brevet of second-lieutenant of engineers, July 
1st ; served that year at Fortress Monroe as first assistant-engineer, under com- 
mand of Lieutenant-Colonel E. E. De Eussey ; and was ordered to duty at West 
Point, in September, 1843, as assistant professor of engineering. From August, 
1844, until August, 1845, he served as assistant professor of natural and experi- 
mental philosophy at the military academy, and in 1845, '46, and '47, in the engi- 
neering department as assistant and first assistant professor. He also served as 
post-quartermaster at AVest Point for some months. 

In 1847, Lieutenant Eosecrans was assigned to duty at Newport, Ehode 
Island, to reconstruct the large military wharves destroyed by a storm — an 
appointment regarded as an official recognition of his great ability as an en- 
gineer. Here he remained until 1852, when he was charged with the survey 
(made under act of Congress) of New-Bedford harbor, Taunton Eiver, and Provi- 
dence harbor. From April till November, 1853, he served as constructing engi- 
neer at the Washington navy-yard, when, on account of ill health, he tendered 
his resignation to the secretary of war, Jefferson Davis. Ilis resignation was not 
accepted ; but he was given leave of absence, with the understanding that if, 
upon the expiration of the leave, the resignation was insisted upon, it would be 
accepted. In April, 1854, therefore, Lieutenant Eosecrans again tendered his 
I'esignation, and retired from the service. 

For the next year he occupied an office in Cincinnati, as consulting engineer 
and architect ; and in June, 1855, became president of the Canal-Coal Company, 
and superintended its work on Coal Eiver, Virginia, where it was engaged in the 
construction of locks and dams, and in the endeavor to effect slack-water navi- 
gation. This position he relinquished to assume control of the business of the 
Cincinnati Coal- Oil Company, in which he was directly interested. 



180 NOTABLE MEN. 

When General McClellan was placed at tlie head of the Ohio volunteers, he 
appointed Eosecrans acting chief engineer, with the rank of major ; and the legis- 
lature of Ohio soon after created, purposely for him, and witli the rank of colonel, 
the office of chief engineer of the state. Governor Dennison appointed him, June 
10th, colonel of the twenty-third regiment Ohio volunteers, and in that capacity 
he went to Washington, and arranged for the payment and maintenance of the 
troops from his state. 

Colonel Eosecrans was appointed a brigadier-general of the United States 
armv, June 20th, 1861. Placed at the head of a brigade, composed of the eighth 
and tenth Indiana and the seventeenth and nineteenth Ohio regiments, he parti- 
cipated in the earliest advance into Western Virginia; was in command at Par- 
kersburg; proceeded thence to Grafton, and by Buckhannon, with the other part 
of McClellan's force to Eich Mountain, where a portion of the rebel General 
Garnctt's force, variously stated at two and four thousand, and commanded by 
Colonel Pegram, were intrenched at the foot of the hill, on the western slope. 
Before this position some of General Eosecrans's men had a sharp skirmish with 
the enemy on the 10th of July, and it was then discovei'ed that their work at the 
foot of the hill was a very strong one, and was in a position well chosen for 
defence ; it was also learned that they had a much less considerable work on the 
summit of the hill. It was therefore aiTanged that, while General McClellan 
made his jireparations to attack the larger work in front. General Eosecrans with 
his brigade should reach the rear of the rebels, carry their work on the summit 
of the hill, and participate from that side in the attack on the main fort. 

In pursuance of this plan, General Eosecrans left his camp at Eoaring Eun, 
two miles west of Eich Mountain, at daylight on July 11th, and advanced by a 
pathless route through the woods along the south-western slope of the mountain. 
Compelled very often to cut the way, and even to build a road for the artillery, 
their progress was necessarily slow. Much rain had previoush' fallen, and the 
bushes were still very wet ; this, with tlie cold, and the toilsome march, made 
the service an unusually severe one. Yet they pressed on, silently and reso- 
lutely, and, after a circuit of eight miles, reached a point on the road in the 
enemy's rear, at three P. ir. Although this movement had been projected as a 
surprise, the enemy was aware of it, and prepared: yet, after a hard fight of 
three cjuarters of an hour, he was driven out, and his position taken. 

Tliis success decided the fortunes of the rebels at Eich Mountain ; for those 
in the work at the foot of the mountain abandoned their position in the night, 
and retreated to Laurel Hill. Nearly all the killed and wounded of the Union 
men at this place were in General Eosecrans's brigade. General McClellan imme- 
diately pushed on to Beverly, to cut off the retreat of the force at Laurel Ilill ; 
wlii](> General Eosecrans, passed on the road, followed at leisure: and other 



WILLIAM STAKKE ROJ^ECItANS. 181 

portions of MeClellan's command went toward Laurel Hill, and followed the 
retreat of Garnett to Carrick's Ford. 

Immediately after the destruction of the rebel force at Rich Mountain and 
Laurel Hill, General McClellan began to make active preparations to co-operate 
with General Cox, on the Kanawha, against the rebels under Wise ; but the 
preparations were delayed by news of the national defeat at Bull Run. McClel- 
lan was ordered to Washington ; and his army, then at Beverly, was counter- 
marched to Webster, a few miles south of Grafton, where he left it, July 23d, 
and the command of the department of the Ohio devolved upon General Rose- 
crans. 

Preparations for the campaign on the Kanawha were continued, but they 
were now retarded by the necessity for the reorganization of the army, which 
was composed in a great degree of men enlisted for three months. ^Meantime, 
head-quarters were established at Clarksburg ; and fiom that place, on August 
20t]i, General Roseerans issued an address to the loyal inhabitants of Western 
Virginia. "Contrary to your interests and your wishes," he said, the Confeder- 
ates "have brought war upon your soil Between submission to them, and 

subjugation or expulsion, they leave you no alternative. They have set neigh- 
bor against neighbor, and friend against friend ; they have introduced among 
you warfare only known among savages. In violation of the laws of nations 
and humanity, they have proclaimed that private citizens may and ought to 
make war. Under this bloody code, peaceful citizens, unarmed travellers, and 
single soldiers, have been shot down, and even the wounded and defenceless 
have been killed ; scalping their victims is all that is wanting to make their war- 
fare like that which, seventy or eighty years ago, was waged by the Indians 
against the white race on this verj' ground. You have no alternative left you 
but to unite as one man in the defence of your homes, for the restoration of law 
and order, or be subjugated, or expelled from the soil. I therefore earnestly 
exhort you to take the most prompt and vigorous measures to jnit a stop to 

neighborhood and private wars Citizens of Western Virginia, 3"our fate is 

mainly in your own hands. If you allovy yourselves to be trampled under foot 
by hordes of disturbers, plunderers, and murderers, your land will become a 
desolation. If you stand firm for law and order, and maintain your rights, you 
may dwell together peacefully and happily as in former days." 

General Roseerans marched from Clarksburg, August 31st, and once more 
put himself at the heail of his army for active operations. On the 10th of Sep- 
tember, he reached the rebel intrenchnients in front of Carnifex Ferrj', and, after 
a slight skirmish, succeeded in routing General Floyd, and capturing " a few 
prisoners, two stand of colors, a considerable quantity of arms," together with 
some military stores. 

31 



182 XuTACLE MEX. 

Soon after this action, he establislicd his head-quarters at Wheeling, and 
commenced preparations for the campaign that was to be opened in tiie follow- 
ing spring ; but in March, 1862, on the creation of the " Mountain Department," 
and the appointment of General Fremont to its command. General Rosecrans was 
relieved from duty in "Western Virginia, and repaired to Washington, preparatory 
to entering the field at the West 






,<3^,^' ^. 



V^ '^SL^. 





jMaj i',):n ji.i;_,\.i i-' HnTi.i-'.i;, 



beintjamin f. butler. 

LITEEATUEE and Art are tlie children of Peace. Diplomacy, strategy, 
and valor, flourish only in the shadow of turbulent events. It is only 
amid the angry clashing of antagonistic interests, that such men as the subject 
of this sketch develop and achieve distinction. 

Bknjamin F. Butler was born in Deerfield, New Hampshire, on the 5th 
of November, 1818. His father, John Butler, who served in some capacity in 
the War of 1812, was of Irish descent. Young Butler's boyhood was passed at 
Lowell, Massachusetts, where he attended the High School, preparatory to be- 
comino' a student at the Exeter Academy. He graduated with lienors at Water- 
ville College, studied law in the office of William Smith, Esq., and was admitted 
to the bar in 1846. 

Butler at once plunged into law and politics, pursuing both with equal 
ardor, and displaying tlie adroitness and energy which have alwaj-s characterized 
him. He speedily made his mark in Middlesex as one of the prominent men of 
the county. He espoused the most desperate causes, and became, in court, the 
leader of forlorn-hopes. His singular fertility in expedients, and success in de- 
fending rather awkward suits, brought him, in time, a more respectable clientele, 
and he soon won the rejDutation of being the ablest criminal lawyer in the state. 

In 1853, Butler was nominated for the legislature, and elected ; in 1858, he 
was elected to the senate ; in 1860, we find him playing a prominent rule as dele- 
gate to the Charleston and Baltimore conventions, fulfilling the mission with his 
usual tact and skill. 

During all these years, the combative lawyer and politician had been taking 
lessons in "the school of the soldier." Butler had always possessed and evinced 
a taste for military life. In 18-40, he was a private in the Lowell City Guards, 
now immortalized b}' their share in the memorable conflict at Baltimore, on the 
19th of April, 1861. lu 1857, he was appointed brigadier-general in the state 
militia. Destiny was preparing him for his subsequent career. The hour was 
approaching when his alert brain and strong hand were to be worth untold gold. 

In the month Qf April, 1861, General Butler was one of the earliest to re- 
spond to the call of President Lmcoln for volunteers, keenly appreciating the 
important aspect of affairs, and not unmindful, po.^sibly, of tlie opportunity 



184 NOTABLE ilEX. 

afForded for militaiy distinction. He eagerly availed himself of it. With a 
single regiment, the Massachusetts eighth, he marched into Maryland, embarked 
on board a steamer, made a descent upon Annapolis, then the enemy's country, 
and held it. The war department immediately created the department of An- 
napolis, extending to within seyen miles of Washington, and including Baltimore. 
General Butler was installed commander, with the rank of major-general. 

He was equal to the emergency. He strengthened his exposed position in 
all possible ways, setting his soldiers — the ci-devant blacksmiths and jaeks-of-all- 
trades — to construct locomotives, build bridges, and make railroads. He took 
possession of the Eelay House, fortifying himself there with the Massachusetts 
sixth, the New York eighth, and Cook's Boston battery, controlling the gi'cat 
channel of communication between the insurgents in Baltimore and the rebels at 
Harpers Ferry. He seized the famous steam-gun, and turned it on the enemy. 
General Butler then marched into Baltimore, accompanied by the two regiments 
and the battery mentioned; intrenched himself on the highest point of land, 
overlooking the whole city, issiied his proclamation of protection to all loyal- 
ists ; arrested traitors ; seized arms and munitions of war ; and rode through the 
perilous streets at the head of a single company of the gallant Massachusetts 
sixth, which the mob had so grievously assaulted only three weeks before. His 
campaign here was a brilliant one in cver\' respect. 

In pursuance of Special Order No. 9, dated at Fortress Monroe, the head- 
quarters of the department of Virginia, August 20th, 1861, General Butler as- 
sumed command of the volunteer forces in that vicinity. While occupying this 
post, the lamentable affair at Little Bethel, and the more disastrous repulse at 
Big Bethel, occurred, and General Butler was superseded by General Wool. 

On the 1st day of the following September, the war department " authorized 
Major-Gcneral B. F. Butler to raise, organize, arm, uniform, and equip a volun- 
teer force for the war, in the New England states, not exceeding six regiments." 
Two days later, the war department authorized him " to fit out and prepare such 
troops in New England as he may judge fit for the jiurpose, to make an expedi- 
tion along the eastern shore of Virginia," etc., etc. In carrying out these plans, 
a series of embarra.ssing conflicts arose between General Butler and Governor 
Andrew. Much bitter feeling was generated. Recruiting was retarded in con- 
sequence, and delay followed delay. This is neither the tme nor the place to 
more than allude to the unfortunate controversy. 

At length, on the 20tli of February, 1862, General Butler left Boston for 
Ship I.-land, in Mississippi Sound, at which destination he arrived on the 23d 
of March, with a force of fifteen thousand men, to attack New Orleans. Leaving 
Ship Island on the 17th of April, with a portion of his command, he went up the 
Mississif)]ii. an<l, aftor the surrender of Forts Jackson and St. Philip, proceeded 



BENJAMIN F. BUTLER. 185 

to New Orleans, wliich city he entered witli twenty-live liuiidred men on tbo 
evening of the 1st of May. 

Here General Butler again loomed >ip as the man for tlie hour. Ills execu- 
tive ability, his ready wit, decision, unflinching justice, and, in short, all the 
peculiar powers of his mind, came into play. That he should have made some 
false steps, where so many perplexing claims came in contact, does not admit of 
surprise. No man could have done better, few so well. General Butler's course 
in New Orleans was, from the first, necessarily a stringent one. He suppressed 
Tlie Delta and Tlie Bee, for advocating destruction of produce ; arrested several 
British subjects, for affording aid to the rebels; seized a large amount of sjiecie 
belonging to the enemy, in the office of the consul for the Netherlands ; stopped 
the circulation of confederate paper-money ; distributed among the suflering poor 
the provisions intended for the support of the Southern army ; levied a tax on 
rebel sympathizers ; gave care and protection to Mr.s. Beauregard, whom he found 
in the house of Mr. Slidell ; and issued that celebrated and characteristic procla- 
mation respecting active female traitors, which at once extirpated a most annoy- 
ing nuisance.* He found the city demoralized. He shaped order out of chaos. 

* Sympathizers with the South claimed to be greatly outraged by this order. The Engh.-;]! press 
became eloquently vituperative on the subject; and Cencral Butler was induced to explain, in a private 
letter, the motives which constrained him to issue the proclamation. The following is the general's 
characteristic epistle : 

"Head-quarters, Department of the Gclf, New Orleans, July 2(1, 1862. 

" My Dear Sir: I am as jealous of the good opinion of ray friends as I am careless of the slanders 
of my enemies, and your kind expressions in regard to Order No. 28 lead mo to say a word to you on 
the subject. 

" That it ever could liave been so misconceived as it has been by some portions of the Northern 
press is wonderful, and would lead one to exclaim with the Jew, ' Father Abraham, what these Chris- 
tians are, whose own hard dealings teaches them suspect the thoughts of others I' 

"What was the state of things to which the woman order applied? 

" We were two thousand five hundred men in a city seven miles long by two to four wide, of a 
hundred and fifty thousand inhabitants — all hostile, bitter, defiant, explosive — standing literally on a 
magazine ; a spark only needed for destruction. The devil had entered the hearts of the women of this 
town (you know seven of them chose Mary Magdalen for a residence), to stir up strife in every way 
possible. Every opprobrious epithet, every insulting gesture was made by these bejewelled, becrinolined, 
and laced creatures, calling themselves ladies, toward my soldiers and ofBcers, from the windows of 
houses and in the streets. How long do you suppose our flesh and blood could have stood this without 
retort? That would lead to disturbances and riot, from which we must clear the streets with artillery; 
and then a howl that we murdered these fine women ! I had arrested the men who hurrahed for Beau- 
rcard. CouM I arrest the v.'onien? No. 'What was to be done? No order could be maile save one 
that would execute itself. "VV'ith'auxiou.s, careful thought I hit upon this: 'Women who insult my 
soldiers are to be regarded and treated as common women plying tlieir vocation.' 

" Pray how do you treat a common woman plying her vocation in the streets? Tou pass her by 
unheeded Wiu 'aimot insult voul As n gentleman, you can and will take no notice of her. If she 

32 



ISn XOTAl! 1, !■: MEN. 

He has been the goveriimetit's faithful sei-vaiit, and liis services will link his 
name forever with that of the Crescent City. It was a fortunate day lor New- 
Orleans when "Picayune Butler came to town." lie still retains the post, and 
the people who hate him can hardly help liking him ! 

As a man. General Butler is of a warm, impul.'^ive tcmpei-ament, generous, 
combative, and brusque. As a politician, he is earnest and formidable. As an 
advocate, he has never ranked with the leader? of the Massachusetts bar, though 
his success as a criminal lawyer is, perhaps, w thout parallel. As an orator, he 
is fluent and efiective, but seldom eloquent. He is apt at reading character, and 
sometimes applies his knowledge with consummate shrewdness. As a soldier, 
ho has evinced many very high qualities: he has undertaken and [lerformed 
various onerous duties with such i^clat, that none but his most ungenerous politi- 
cal adversaries can withhold their commendation. 



spe.iks, lier words are not opprobrious. It is only when slio becomes a continuous and positive nuisance 
that you call a watchman and give her in charge to him. 

" But some of the Northern editors seem to think that whenever one meets such a woman, one must 
stop her, talk with her, insult her, or hold dalliance with her ; and so from their own conduct they con- 
strued my order. 

" The editor of the Boston Cmirier may so deal with common women, and out of the abundance of 
the heart his mouth may speak; but so do not I. 

" Why these she-adders of New Orleans themselves were at once shamed into propriety of conduct 
by the order; and, from that day, no woman has either insulted or annoyed any live soldier or ofTicer, and 
of a certainty no soldier has insulted any woman, 

"When I passed through Baltimore, on the 2:id of February last, members of my stall' were insulted 
by the gestures of the ladies (?) there. Not so in New Orleans. 

" One of the worst possible of all these women showed disrespect to the remains of gallant young 
De Kav; and you will see her punishment — a copy of tlie order of which I enclose — is at once a vindica- 
tion and a construction of my order. 

"I can only say that I would issue it again under like circumstances. Again thanking you for your 

kind interest, I am truly your friend, 

"Benjamin ¥. Butleii, Major-Oi-mrid ratiivumd.ntj." 




Hoic ciiari.es ST'MXER 



^^i^^^ Y<^^v^ 



/ 



C7'/C<:^'^SLf^ i/^^^yU.^H^ 



CHARLES SITMITER. 

CHARLES SUMNER was bom in Boston, Massachusetts, January 6tb, 1811. 
His grandfather, Major Job Sumner, was an oiheer of the Revolutionary 
army; and bis father, Charles Pinckney Sunnier, a lawyer by ])rofession, and an 
accomplished gentleman of the old seliool, held during the latter part of Ids life 
the responsible position of sheriff of Suftblk county, which comprises the city 
of Boston. 

At ten years of age, Charles Sumner was placed in the public Latin school 
of Boston, the best preparatory institution for classical training in New England, 
and, during the five years that he remained there, gave alnmdant evidences of 
industry and ability. Of naturally studious habits, he devoted much of his 
leisure time to reading history, of which he was passionately fond, and often 
arose before daylight to peruse Hume, Gibbon, and other favorite authors. At 
the age of fifteen, he entered Harvard College, where he was graduated in 1830, 
holding a respectable rank in his class, though one by no means comniensuratc 
with his natural abilities. More interested in the general improvement of his 
mind than in the acquisition of academical honors, he deviated from the pre- 
scribed curriculum whenever it was opposed to his plans or tastes, and pursued 
an independent cours^ v( reading in classical and general literature. Having 
devoted another year to private reading in his favorite studies, he entered in 
1831 the Law School at Cambridge, where, under the instruction of Professors 
Ashmun and Greenleaf, and Justice Story, he acquired a profound knowledge 
of judicial science. Not content with the information to be gained from the 
ordinary text-books, .ho explored the curious learning of tlie old year-books, 
made himself familiar with the voluminous reports of the English and American 
courts, and neglected no opportunity to trace the principles of law to their sources. 

While still a student, he contributed articles to the American Jurist, a law 
quarterly published in Boston, which attracted attention by their marked ability 
and learning. Subsequently, he became the editor of this periodical, and it is a 
foct creditable to his early acquirements that several of his contributions have 
been cited as authorities by Justice Story. With each of tlie distinguished 
jurists above mentioned he was on terms of cordial intimacy; and Justice Story, 
down to tlie time of his death, in 1845, was his warm friend and admirer. 



188 NOTABLE MEN. 

Leaving tlie L;iw Scbool in 1834, Mr. Siunner pa.ssed a few montlis in the 
office of Benjamin Eand, ia Bcston, with a view of learning the forms of prac- 
tice; and in tlic .same year was admitted to the bar, at Worcester. He imme- 
diately commenced jjractice in Boston, where his reputation for learning and 
forensic aVjility seeurcil him a warm welcome from the mendjers of his profession, 
and offers to enter lucrative law partnerships, which he declined, preferring to 
make no engagements which, should interfere with fi Ljiig-clierishcd jilan of 
making a European tour. In addition to his large })ractice, he assumed the 
duties of reporter of the United States cij-euit court, in which capacity he jiub- 
lished three volunaes of cases, known as " Sumner's Reports,'' and comprising 
chiefly the decisions of Justice Story ; and during the absence of the latter at 
Washington, he filled his place for three winters at the Cambridge Law School, 
by appointment of the university authorities — a significant proof of the estima- 
tion in which his abilities were held. His lectures on constitutional law and the 
law of nations were prepared with much labor, and greatly enhanced his reputa- 
tion. Amid these absorbing pursuits he found time to edit "Dunlap's Treatise 
on Admiralty Practice," left unfinished by the author, and to which he added a 
copious appendix, containing many practical forms and precedents of jJeadings, 
since adopted in our admiralty courts, and an index, the whole making a larger 
amount of matter than the original treatise. 

Li 1837, having in the preceding year declined flattering offers of a profes- 
sorshi]) at Cambridge, Mr. Sumner turned aside from the temptations and emolu- 
ments of professional life, to make his contemplated visit to Europe, where he 
remained until 1840. Carrying to foreign lands his enthusiasm for his profes- 
sion, he made a special study in Paris of the celebrated Code Napoleon, both in 
its essential printdples and forms of procedure, with wliicli his previous studies 
in civil law had made him tolerably familiar. In England, where he remained 
nearly a year, his opportunities for meeting society in all its forms were such as 
are rarely accorded to American travellers. Bench and bar vied with each other 
in paying attentions to him; and in private circles, as well as in Westminster 
Hall — where, on more than one occasion, at the invitation of the judges, he sat 
by their side at trials — his reception was most gratifying. As an evidence of 
the impression which his extensive learning and accomjilishments produced upon 
an eminent English jurist, it is related that, several years after his return to 
America, during the hearing in an insurance question before the court of ex- 
chequer, one of the counsel having cited an American ease. Baron Parke (since 
created Lord Wensleydale, the ablest perhaps of the English judges of the time) 
asked him what book he quoted. He replied, "Sumner's Reports." Baron 
Rolfe inquired, "Is that the Mr. Sumner who was oace in England?" and, upon 
receiving a rejjly in the affirmative, Baron Parke observed, "We shall not con- 



CHARLES SUM N Eli. ISy 

sider it entitled to less uttcntion, because reported \>y a gentleman whom we all 
knew and respected.'' 

In Germany, Mr. Sumner made the acquaintance of Savigny, Mitteiniaier, 
and otiier eminent civilians, and of such distinguished characters as Ilumlioldt, 
Carl Eitter the geographer, and Ranke the historian of popes; and here, as else- 
where in Europe, he was frequently consulted liy writers on the law of nations. 
At the request of Mr. Cass, then minister to France, he prepared a defence of the 
American claim in the North-eastern Boundary controversy, which was puLlished 
in Galignani's Paris Messenger ; and he also conceived the idea of writing a "His- 
tory of the Law of Nations," a task which he finally relinquished to Mr. Whea- 
ton, whom lie had consulted on the subject. 

After a brief residence in Italy, where he studied art and general literature, 
Mr. Sumner returned in 1840 to Boston, and resumed the practice of his profes- 
sion, though to a more moderate extent than formerly, his attention being now 
much occupied with subjects connected with social and political etiiics, and 
kindred topics. His love of law as a science, liowever, showed no diminution ; 
and in 18-i4:-'-i6, he produced aa edition of "Yesey's Reports," in twenty vol- 
umes, enriched with numerous notes, and with what was a novelty in a work of 
the kind, biographical illustrations of the text. 

Though previously known as a graceful and impressive speaker, it was not 
until 1845 that the full eflcct of Mr. Sumner's oratory was appreciated by a pub- 
lic assembly; and not until then, it may be added, did the orator exhibit that 
lofty moral courage which he has since illustrated on innumerable occasions, as 
the advocate of principles which he believes to be right, in defiance of an ad- 
verse public opinion. On the 4th of July of that year, he delivered before the 
municipal authorities of Boston ici oration on "The True Grandeur of Nations," 
in which he exliibited the war system as the old ordeal by battle, a relic of 
middle-age bai'barism I'etained by international law as the arbiter of justice 
between nations; and portrayed, in contrast, the blessings of peace. The doc- 
trine was not then, and is not now, jiopular; and, while the enunciation of it 
gained him warm friends and admirers, others received the speaker's sentiments 
with distrust or open ridicule. None, however, could deny the persuasive charm 
of his elocution, the finish and elegance of the diction, and the finely-conceived 
classical and historical illustrations with which many of his passages were en- 
riched. Justice Story, though dissenting from some of his views, declared that 
certain parts of his discourse were ".such as befit an exalted mind and an en- 
larged benevolence," and resembled, in their manly moral enthusiasm, the great 
efforts of Sir James Mackintosh. From Chancellor Kent and other distinguished 
men ho received equally strong tokens of approbation. In England, the oration 
was republished in five or six different forms, and met with a ready sale. Rich- 



190 NOTABLE MEN. 

ard Cobden, in a letter to the author, called it "the most noble contribution of 
any modern wi-itcr to the cause of peace ;'' and the venerable jjoct Rogers wrote 
to him, " Every pulse of my heart beats in accordance with yours on the subject." 
His oration l)efore the Phi Beta Kappa Society of Harvard University, in Au- 
gust, 1846, entitled " The Scholar, the Jurist, the Artist, and the Philanthropist," 
excited equal admiration ; and John Quincy Adams offered as a sentiment, at the 
annual dinner of the society, "The memory of the scholar, the jurist, the artist, 
and the philanthropist, and — not the memory, but the long life of the kindred 
spirit who has this day embalmed them all." Writing to the orator shortly after- 
ward, on the success of his performance, he observed, in allusion to the approach- 
ing close of his own career: "I see you have a mission to perform. I look from 
Pisgah to the ])romiscd land — you must enter upon it.'' How fully the injunc- 
tion of the aged statesman has lieen obeyed, Mr. Sunmcr's life attests. Thence- 
forth he frequently a}>pcared before jiublic bodies and literary associations as the 
earnest and eloquent advocate of jtliilanthropic measures ; and the two volumes 
of his " Or.ations and Speeches," published in 1850, contain noble specimens of 
national oratory. 

Previous to 1845, Mi-. Sumner had kept aloof from politics, his tastes being 
averse to the rough experiences and demoralizing influences to which the pro- 
fessed politician must too often accustom himself, and inclining wholly to those 
studies which can bo pursued in the peaceful walks of private life. " The strife 
of parties," to use his own words, "had seemed ignoble to him." He had always, 
however, borne his testimony against slavery; and upon the agitation, in 1846, 
of the question of the annexation of Texas, which involved the extension of 
slave-territory within the Union, he came promptly forward as an opponent of 
the measure. Ills speech on this subject, before a popidar convention lield in 
Faneuil Hall, in Boston, in that year, is one of the most brilliant and jiointcd he 
ever delivered. 

In the autunni of 1845, the Dane professorship:) of law in the Cambrid"e 
Law School became vacant Ijy the death of Justice Story ; and it was supposed, 
in accordance with the expressed desire of the late incumbent, that Mr. Sumner 
would be appointed his successor. If that recommendation were not suflicient, 
the declaration of Chancellor Kent that he was " the only person in the country 
competent to succeed Story," might have been entitled to some weight with those 
having the appointment. It was, however, never offered to him — a proof that 
the estimation in which he had been held a few years previous had for some 
reason declined. The extreme views expressed by him on qtiestions of pid.)lic 
interest which had tlien begun to agitate the connnunity, prol>ably alarmed the 
conservatism of many who had been his admirers, and weighed against him. It 
is certain, however, that his social status with a portion of the community thence- 



CHARLES SUMNER. 191 

forth became impaired ; though it may be doubted whether, in the generous sup- 
port which the expression of his sentiments brouglit him from many to wliom he 
had been previously unknown, he suffered any material loss of position. 

Having once embarked in the crusade against the extension of the slave- 
power, Mr. Sumner delivered in September, 1846, an address before the Whig 
state convention of Massachusetts, " On the Anti-Slavery Duties of the Whig 
Party ;" and in the succeeding month he published a letter of rebuke to the 
Honorable Robert C. Winthrop, then a representative in Congress from Massa- 
chusetts, for his vote in favor of the war with Mexico. He refused to allow 
himself to be put forward as a rival candidate to that gentleman in the impend- 
ing election, but supported Mr. Samuel G. Howe, who was nominated in that 
capacity, and in a speech, delivered during the canvass, opposed the Mexican 
war and all supplies for its prosecution. These acts, instigated by a clear con- 
viction of the demands which duty imposed, alienated him from many old friends, 
and made his position an isolated and in many respects an unpleasant one. He 
still adhered, however, to the "Whig party, with which he had always acted, and 
as late as September, 1847, was a delegate to the state convention; but after the 
schism in the Whig ranks, in 1848, which i-esulted in the formation of the Free- 
Soil party, he attached himself to the latter organization, and during the presi- 
dential canvass of 1848 was an earnest advocate of the election of Yun Buren 
and Adams. 

In 1850, the Whig party lost its ascendency in Massachusetts ; and upon the 
legislature elected in that year, and which contained an opposition majority com- 
posed of Democratic and Free-Soil members, devolved the choice of a Senator 
in Congress to succeed Mr. Webster. i[r. Sumner, in opposition to his often- 
expressed wishes to avoid official life, was nominated for the office by the mem- 
bers of his party, Mr. Winthrop being the candidate of the Whigs; and after an 
exciting contest, prolonged by liis refusal to give any pledge as to his future 
course, beyond what was implied in his past acts, he was, on April 24th, 1851, 
elected by a coalition between the Frec-Soilcrs and Democrats. This result, the 
first substantial triumph of the Anti-Slavery party in Massachusetts, was appro- 
priately celebrated in many places. 

Mr. Sumner's first important speech in Congress was directed against the 
fugitive-slave law of 1850, which he denounced as unconstitutional, tyrannical, 
and cruel. On this occasion he laid down the well-known formula that " free- 
dom is national, and slavery sectional," which has since been adojjted by his 
party as their rule of political action. He participated with earnestness in the 
debates on the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, and on the Kansas troubles ; 
and, upon the formation of the Republican party, in 1855-'56, he became, with 
the great body of the Free-Soilers, identified with it. 



192 NOTABLE MEN. 

On May 19th and 20tb, Mr. Sumner delivered in the Senate the celebrated 
speech, subsequently published under the title of " The Crime against Kansas,"' 
the most elaborate and masterly of any of his political efforts up to that time, but 
which greatly incensed certain of the Southern incnibcrs. It was determined 
that the man who had so fearlessly and eloquently attacked the institutions of 
the South should be silenced by force, if arguments were unavailing; and on 
May 22d, shortly after the adjournment of the Senate, while Mr. Sumner was 
sitting at his desk, absorbed in writing, Preston S. Brooks, one of the representa- 
tives from South Carolina, entered the Senate-chamber, attended by Mr. Keitt, 
also of South Carolina, and Mr. Edmundson, of Virginia, and with a heavy 
gutta-perclia cane struck the offending Senator repeated blows over the head, 
from the effects of which he almost immediately fell to the floor insensible. The 
excitement throughout the country, in consequence of this outrage, is too fresh 
in the public mind to need more than a passing allusion. It became a powerful 
element in the succeeding presidential canvass, and perceptibly widened the 
breach between the North and the Soutli. A resolution for the expulsion of 
Brooks was almost immediately introduced into the Ilouse of Eepresentatives, 
but failed of receiving the requisite two-thirds vote. The severe illness which 
followed the assault prevented Mr. Sumner from taking any jijart in the public 
affairs during the succeeding summer and winter; and in March, 1857, his health 
was so seriously impaired, that he was induced, by the advice of his physicians, 
to make a visit to Europe. Previous to his departure, the legislature of Massa- 
chusetts aflbrded him a gratifying proof of their esteem and confidence by re- 
electing him a United States Senator for another full term — the vote being 
unanimous in the senate, and almost so in the house of representatives, contain- 
ing several hundred members. In the autumn of the same 3'ear, he returned to 
the United States ; l)ut his liealth being still too much impaired to admit of the 
resumption of his legislative duties, he went abroad again in May, 1858, and for 
more than a year was subjected to a course of medical treatment, which caused 
the most acute suffering, but which restored him to his legislative duties in the 
winter of 1859-'60, in comparative vigor. 

As if to show that the attempt to crush the utterance of his opinions had 
inspired him to renewed efforts in the anti-slavery cause, his first speech after his 
recovery was an eloquent exposition of the demoralizing influences of slaveiy, 
subsequently widely distributed in pamphlet form, under the title of "The Bar- 
barism of Slavery." He spoke frequently in favor of the Republican ciindidates 
cluriiii;- tlic p'l'sidcnti:^] can\ass of 1860 : and. in thr moniorable srssidu of 
liS(iO-'(il, iiKiintaincd u ^t(■rn opposition to all i-omproniiM's willi ur romessinns 
to the seceding states as a means of restoring them to the Union. With all 
patriotic .'^tate.-men, he lias urged the vigorous prosecution of the war against 



CHARLES SUMNER. 193 

the rebellious states, and, as might be supposed from his previous course, is in 
favor of making emancipation an element in the contest. Emancipation he has 
repeatedly declared to be the speediest, if not the only mode, of bringing the 
war to a close ; and he justifies that measure on moral, historical, and particu- 
larly on constitutional grounds. One of Mr. Sumner's last great efforts was a 
speech delivered in the Senate, on January 9th, 1862, on the question of the 
rendition of Mason and Slidell, which he advocated on principles of international 
law always previously insisted upon by the United States government. 

In addition to the publications already mentioned, Mr. Sumner has a work 
on " White Slavery in the Barbary States" (Boston, 1853), expanded from a lec- 
ture; and an additional volume of speeches, entitled "Recent Speeches and 
Addresses" (1856). 

Though past fifty, Mr. Sumner gives little evidence of the approach of old 
age. His tall and well-knit figure has lost none of its erectness ; and his features, 
when lighted up by enthusiasm, or during the relaxations of social intercourse, 
have a youthfulness of appearance which seems hardly in keeping with the 
gravity supposed to pertain to the senatorial office. In personal appearance, as 
well as in the luxuriance and elaborate finish of his style, he has been compared 
to Edmund Burke. "For depth and accuracy of thought," says an eminent 
British critic, " for fulness of historical information, and for a species of gigantic 
morality, which treads all sophistry under foot, and rushes at once to the right 
conclusion, we know not a single orator speaking the English tongue who ranks 
as his superior. He combines to a remarkable extent the peculiar features of 
our British emancipationists, the perseverance of Granville Sharp, the knowledge 
of Brougham, the enthusiasm of Wilberforce, and a courage which, as he is still a 
young man, may be expected to tell powerfully on the destinies of the republic." 

33 




ILAJ: GEN- HENRY VAGER ttALLECK . 



HES"EY AVAGEE HALLEOK. 

AN ancestiy good, honest, and reputable, removed alike from the dazzling 
heights of a public career, with its jealousies, hostilities, and temptations, 
and from the ignominy of a low and obscure birth, may justly be accounted a 
fortunate circumstance in any man's lineage. This good fortune General Hal- 

leck enjoys. 

The Hallecks claim as their ancestor Peter Halleck, of Southold, Suffolk 
county. Long Island, a descendant of the lords of Alnwick Castle, which Fitz- 
Greene Halleck, a relative of the general, has so finely described. The name in 
England was originally Hallyoak, and is now written there Halliock, Hallock, 
and Halleck. In this country the Hallocks and Hallecks both trace their lineage 
to the same ancestor. Honorable Joseph Halleck, the general's father, settled in 
the early part of the present century in Western, a small town on the Mohawk 
River, in Oneida county, a few miles west of Utica, where he married Miss Wa- 
ger, the daughter of Henry Wager, a Gemian, the near neighbor and personal 
friend of Baron Steuben, who, still hale and hearty, though one hundred years 
old, has lived to see his grandson commander-in-chief of the armies of the United 

States. 

In this little town of Western, Henry Wager Halleck was born in 1S16. 
We have been able to learn but little of his early childhood. He is i-epresented, 
by those who recollect him, as a studious, manly boy, with a decided predilection 
for mathematical studies. When fifteen or sixteen years of age, he left home, 
and, after consulting an uncle, then resident at Syracuse, went to Hudson, and 
commenced a course of preparation for college at the Hudson Academy, entering 
his name as Henry Wager. The cause of his dropping his last name is uncer- 
tain. After spending nearly three years in the academy at Hudson, where he 
acquitted himself with honor and reputation as a student, he entered Union Col- 
lege in 183-i ; and the following year, receiving through his uncle's influence a 
cadet appointment at West Point, joined his class there, resuming his full name. 
He was somewhat older than most of the cadets of his class, having attained his 
nineteenth year when he received his appointment. 

It is sufficient evidence of his diligence and ability, that in the class of 1839, 
consisting of thirty-one members, and in many respects one of the most remark- 



196 XOTABLE MEN. 

able classes wliich liave graduated at the academy, A'oung Hallcck held the third 
rank. Immediately after his graduation he was appointed second-lieutenant of 
engineers, without any delay of brevet rank. In 18-iO, he was assistant professor 
of engineering at the academy, and in 1841 became assistant to the ehief-engineer, 
General Totten, at Washington. Soon after, he was assigned to the charge of 
the constructiou of the fortifications of Xew York harbor, in which employment 
be continued till 18-4-i. In 1841, his " Papers on Practical Engineering, Ko. 1," 
were published by the engineer department ; and the same year he prepared a 
" Practical Treatise on Bitumen and its Uses." In 1843, Union College conferred 
on him the honorary degree of A. M. In 1844, Congress published his " Report 
on Military Defences."' 

In January, 1845, lie was promoted to a first-lieutenaney, during his absence 
from the country ; having obtained a furlough and sailed for Europe in the au- 
tumn of 1844, to observe what progress European nations had made in militarv 
science. Through the friendship of Marshal Bertrand, he was introduced to 
Marshal Soult, then war minister of Louis Philippe, and received from him full 
authority to examine every thing of a military character in France. His inves- 
tigations were extended to several other of the continental powers. Returning 
to this country in the summer of 1845, he was requested by the committee of the 
Lowell Institute, Boston, to deliver a course of lectures on the subject of " Mili- 
tary Science and Art." These lectures, which give evidence of high scientific 
and literary ability, were published in 1846, the author having jirefixed an elabo- 
rate introduction on the " Justifiableness of War." 

The commencement of the Mexican War recalled Lieutenant Halleck to his 
professional duties. He took part in the battle of Palo Alto, and immediately 
after that action was sent to California and the Pacitic coast, where he served 
during the war in both a military and civil capacity. He was in the engagements 
of Palos Prietas, Urias, San Antonio, and Todos Santos. At San Antonio he 
marched, with about thirty mounted volunteers, one hundred and twenty miles 
in twenty-eight hours, surprised the enemy's garrison of several hundred men, 
rescued two naval officers and several marines who were prisoners-of-war, and 
captured the enemy's flag, two Mexican officers, and the governor's archives, the 
governor himself barely escaping in his night-clothes. At Todos Santos he led 
into action the main body of Colonel Burton's forces. When Commodore Shu- 
brick attacked Mazatlan, Halleck acted as his aid, and afterward as chief of staff 
and lieutenant-governor of the city. While engaged in these duties, he planned 
and directed the construction of the fortifications at that place. For his services 
on those occasions he was breveted captain. 

In 1847-"8-'0, under the military governments of General Kearney and 
Governors Mason and Riley. Captain Halleck was secretary of state in California. 



HENEY WAGER IIALLECK. 1^7 

"When the convention met in 1849, to form a constitution for the future state of 
California, he was one of the leading members of that body and of the di-afting- 
committee, and the constitution was almost entirely his work. It was at his 
suggestion also that a convention was called, to relieve Congress and General 
Taylor's administration from the difficulties in which they were involved by the 
Free-Soil and Pro-Slavery parties of 1849. From 1847 to 1850, Captain Halleck 
also directed and superintended the entire collection of the public revenues in 
California, amounting to several millions of dollars, and examined and audited 
all the accounts before they were forwarded to Washington. The importers de- 
nied the legality of these collections, and the secretary of the treasury, Ilonoi'able 
Robert J. Walker, doubted their authority ; but Captain Halleck was subse- 
quently sustained, in his interpretation of the law, by the Supreme Court of the 
United States. 

From 1850 to 1854, Captain Halleck served iii California as judge-advocate, 
a member of the Pacific board of engineers, and inspector of lighthouses. lu 
Jul}-, 1853, he received his commission as cajjtain of engineers. In August, 
1854, he resigned his commission, and entered \ipon the practice of law, for the 
study of which he had managed to find time during his singularly busy career 
as a soldier ; and the same year he p)ublished a carefully-compiled translation of 
"The Mining-Laws of Sj^ain and Mexico." His legal abilities soon brought him 
an extensive and lucrative practice ; and, as the senior partner of the great law- 
firm of Halleck, Peachy, and Billings, in San Francisco, he was rapidly accumuT 
lating a large fortune, to which his position of director-general of the New Alma- 
den quicksilver-mines also contributed. In I860, he published a translation of 
"De Foz on the Law of Mines ;" and in December of that year accepted the ajj- 
pointment of major-general of militia, and reorganized the militia of California. 
Early in 1861, he was offered by the governor a seat in the supreme court of the 
state, but declined the honor. 

In the spring of 1861, he published an elaborate work, on which he had 
long been engaged, entitled " International Law and the Laws of War," which 
has received from competent critics the highest commendation. 

Qualities and abilities such as those of General Halleck were too rare in the 
army of the United States — are, indeed, too rare in the army of any country — 
for the nation to spare him from its service in its hour of trial ; and in August, 
1861, the President, at the suggestion of Lieutenant-General Scott, nominated 
him as major-general iu the regular army. He accepted, and his commission 
bore date August 17th, 1861. Arranging his business as rapidly as possible, he 
left California about the first of October, and arrived in New York the latter 
part of the same month. After an interview with the President and General 
Scott (who had determined to retire from the active command of the army), he 



198 NOTABLE MEN. 

was assigned to tbc corumaud of the Western department, and on the 11th of 
November reUeved General Hunter, at St. Louis, who had temporarDy succeeded 
General Fremont. 

General Halleck's energy and great executive ability were soon felt in every 
department oi the vast army which rapidly gathered at the West. Contractors 
were looked after ; Ijridge-burners and marauders joromptly and severely pun- 
ished ; levies made on the property of wealthy secessionists, for the support of 
the families of Unionists wliom they or their friends had plundered ; troops 
raised, equipped, drilled, and sent off to the different points where they were 
required, in large numbers ; and the people led to feel that they had at tlie head 
of affairs a general who fully understood the wants of his department, and had 
the capacity to suj^ply them. 

On the 20th of November, 1861, Genei-al Halleek issued the following 
order : 

'•Head-quarters, Department of MissouKr, St. Loris, November 20th. 1S61. 

"General Orders, No. 3. — 1. It has been represented that important 
information respecting the numbers and condition of our forces is conveyed to 
the enemy by means of fugitive slaves who are admitted within our lines. In 
order to remedy this evil, it is directed that no such persons be hereafter per- 
mitted to enter the lines of any camp, or of any forces on the march, and that 
any within such lines be immediately excluded therefrom. 

" 2. The general commanding wishes to impress upon all officers in com- 
mand of posts, and troops in the field, the importance of preventing unauthorized 
persons of eveiy description from entering and leaving our lines, and of observing 
the greatest precaution in the employment of agents and clerks in confidential 
positions. 

"By order of Major-General HAiLECK. 

'• "R^illiam MoMichael, Assistant- Adjutant General." 

General Halleek was severely blamed for this order. It is hardlv jDrobable 
that, at a later date, when the value of the information received from fugitive 
slaves was better understood, and the probability of their falling into the hands 
of the rebels (if di'iven from our lines) ascertained, he would have issued it ; but 
at the time when it was promulgated, only nine days after he reached St. Louis, 
and under the influences by which he was surrounded, he, no dovibt, honestly 
believed it to be necessary, to jjrevent the enemy from being informed of what 
was transpiring within our lines. Duiing the latter part of his administration 
of the Western department, Order No. 3 was substantially a dead letter. The 
matter was brought up in Congress, and Honorable F. P. Blair, member from tlic 
St. Louis district, wrote to General Halleek for an explanation. The general 
made the following replv : 



HENRY WAGER HALLECK. 199 

"St. Lonis, , 18r,2. 

" To Honorable F. P. Blaib, Washington : 

"Dear Colonel: Yours of the 4tli instant is just received. Order No. 3 
was, in my mind, clearly a military necessity. Unauthorized persons, black or 
white, free or slave, must be kept out of our camps, unless we are wilUng to 
pul)lish to the enemy every thing we do or intend to do. 

" It was a military and not a political order. 

" I am willing to carry out any lawful instructions in regard to fugitive 
slaves which my superiors may give me, and to enforce any law which Congress 
may pass; but I cannot make law, and will not violate it. 

" You know my private opinion on the policy of enacting a law confiscating 
the slave-property of rebels in arms. If Congress shall pass it, you ma}^ be cer- 
tain I shall enforce i't. 

"Yours truly, H. W. Halleck.' 

The successful progress of the war in the West, and the prompt massing of 
troops against the sti-ong points of the enemy, which resulted in the capture of 
Forts Henry and Donelson ; the evacuation of Bowling Green, Columbus, and 
Nashville, culminating in the bloody and hard-fought field of Shiloh — gave the 
strongest testimony to the comprehensive intellect and extraordinary executive 
ability of the commander of the Western department. After the last-named 
battle, he assumed the command of the army in jjcrson, and, after a siege of 
nearly two months, compelled the rebels to evacuate Corinth, and break up in 
disorder. The capture of Island Number Ten, of Huntsville, Alabama, and the 
line of the Memphis and Charleston railroad, and finally of Memphis itself, for a 
time paral^^zed the power of the rebels in the West. 

The disastrous result of the attempt to effect a change of base in the army of 
the Potomac, at the close of June and the beginning of July, 1862, convinced the 
President of the necessity of having at the capital a general of the highest mili- 
tary skill, who should be capable of performing the duties of commander-in-chief 
of all the army-corps which were in the field, and who could direct the necessary 
combinations for efficient and successfiil warfare, and thus relieve the overtasked 
officials of the war department, and at the same time bring the war to a more 
speedy termination. Among the numerous generals in command, none possessed 
the qualifications needed to the same degTee as Major-General Halleck ; and after 
consultation with General Scott, the President summoned him to Washington, 
and, by an order bearing date July 11th, but not promulgated till July 23d, 1862, 
assigned him to tlie command of the whole land-forces of the United States, as 
general-in-chief. 

General Halleck entered upon his new duties about the 25th of July, and, 
as soon as possible, visited the camp of the army of the Potomac, at Harrison's 




1 1. )U,. JOSEPH HOLT, of Kn 



JOSEPH HOLT. 

JOSEPH nOLT was born in Breckenridge county, Kentucky, in 1807. By liis 
own energy and industry he was enabled to obtain a good education, wliich 
was completed at St. Joseph's College, Bardstown, and at Centre College, Dan- 
ville. In 1828, he commenced the practice of law, in Elizabeth town, Kentucky, 
whence in the winter of 1831-32 he removed to Louisville. Establishing him- 
self in the latter place, he was elected a delegate to a Democratic convention held 
in Harrodsburg, in which capacity he delivered a speech of great power and elo- 
quence, thereby confirming his reputation as one of the most promising yoiing 
orators of the West. He was not, however, diverted from his professional labors 
by the eclat which this effort gained him ; and upon receiving, early in 1838, the 
appointment of commonwealth's attorney for the Jefferson circuit, which included 
the city of Louisville, he entered upon the discharge of his official duties with an 
energy and ability which won the commendations of his most ardent political 
opponents. Never unprepared for trial, never disconcerted by any unexpected 
turn which a case might take during the prpgress of the trial, he aimed only at 
securing convictions, in which it is said he scarcely ever failed ; and he frequently 
astonished both bench and bar by forensic addresses not unworthy to be com- 
pared with the early efforts of Clay, Crittenden, and other Kentucky orators. On 
one occasion, Judge Rowan, the leader of the Kentucky bar, and a contemporary 
of the great Western lawyers, characterized his address to the jury as "the finest 
specimen of legal eloquence he had ever heard." 

In 1835, much against the wishes of the people of Louisville, who very gen- 
erally petitioned for his reappointment as prosecuting attorney, Mr. Holt removed 
to Port Gibson, Mississipj^i, whence in the following spring he went to Vicks- 
burc. Here he entered upon a large and lucrative practice, and was broirght 
into frequent competition with the leading advocates of the Southern bar. Sar- 
geant S. Prentiss, the brilliant rhetorician of Mississippi, was his chief antagonist, 
and in their forensic contests Mr. Holt acquitted himself with decided ability. 
Having acquired an ample fortune by his professional labors, he returned, in 
1812, to Louisville. In 1818, he visited Europe and the East, for the benefit of 
his health, and, upon his return to Louisville, resumed the jjractice of law. At 
the accession of Mr. Buchanan to the presidency, he was appointed commissioner 



204 NOTABLE MEN. 

of patents, and t<)ok up Lis residence in Washington. Two years later, \ipon tlie 
death of A. V. Brown, he was transferred to the post-office department, the duties 
of which he discharged until the resignation of John B. Floyd, when he succeeded 
him as secretary of war. 

The gloom and anxiety which then weighed upon the jiublic mind, had 
recently become intensified by the belief that persons high in office were plotting 
to overthrow the government ; and the retirement from office of Mr. Cass, fol- 
lowed by that of Floyd, seemed to indicate that the cabinet were too much 
divided in sentiment, or too seriously implicated in treasonable acts, to admit of 
any vigorous action for the preservation of the Union. Under these circum- 
stances, the appointment of Mr. Holt, a man of approved integrity and courage, 
and a devoted friend of the Union, was very instrumental in restoring public 
confidence ; and, during the brief term in which he administered the affairs of 
the war (Lepartment, he became known to the loyal portion of the country as one 
who would perforin his duty in any emergency. 

Mr. Holt retired from office upon the accession of ]\Ir. Lincoln, with an en- 
hanced reputation for administrative ability, and forthwith employed his eftbrts 
to awaken a spirit of patriotism in the lukewarm citizens of his own state. The 
policy of " neutrality," which the border states would fain have adopted as their 
rule of action in the impending struggle, he emphatically denounced ; and in a 
letter, written on May 31st, to J. F. Speed, of Kentucky, on the duty of that 
state in the crisis, he laid bare, in eloquent language, the fallacy of neutrality ; 
vindicated the right of the federal executive to send troops into or through any 
state, to suppress rebellion ; and showed that the crimes of the rebel leaders were 
such as no government could afford to overlook, and that their pretence of wish- 
ing " to be let alone" was a patent absurdity. " The ordeal through which we are 
passing," he said, " must involve immense suffering and losses for us all, but the 
expenditure of not merely hundreds of millions, but of billions of treasure, will 
be well made, if the result will be the preservation of our institutions." 

On July 13th, Mr. Holt delivered an impressive address at Louisville, on 
the same subject; and in the following September, at the invitation of the New- 
York Chamber of Commerce, he appeared before a large meeting in that city. 

After the removal of General Fremont from the command of the military 
department of the West, Mr. Holt was appointed one of a committee of three to 
examine and decide upon claims brought against that department prior to Octo- 
ber 1-lth, 18G1, in which duty he was busily occupied until March, 1862, when 
the committee presented its report. Li the succeeding September, he was ap- 
pointed judge-advocate general of the army, an office of peculiar responsibility, 
and one which his extended professional training has well qualified him to fill. 




--./ - 



BKIG GE:Nr. GEORC-.h: AM':' I'M. 



G-EORGE ARCHIBALD McOALL. 

GEOEGE AECHIBALD McCALL, now brigadier-general of volunteers in 
tlie army of the United States, was born in Ptiiladelphia, March IGth, 
1802, and, after receiving his early education in the schools of his native city, 
entered the United States military academy at West Point, in 1818, just after it 
had received that thorough reorganization which has made it one of the finest 
military schools in the world. He was graduated, and received his commission 
as second-lieutenant in the first regiment of infantry, in 1822 ; and was ti'ans- 
ferred, the same year, to the fourth regiment of infantry. In 1831, he was 
selected by General E. P. Gaines as one of his aides-de-camp, and served on his 
staff in that capacity, and as assistant-adjutant general of the Western depart- 
ment, till 1836, when he was promoted to the rank of captain in his regiment. 

During the Florida War, Captain McCall served with his company against 
the Indians, and was recommended by the late General W. J. Worth for a major's 
brevet, for gallant conduct at the battle of Pelahlikaha, in these terms : '■ He will 
do more honor to the rank, than the rank can confer on him." The brevet, so 
justly won, was at this time withheld ; but, though modest merit may be ignored 
for a time, it wiU eventually meet its reward. 

At the commencement of the Mexican War, McCall was still serving as 
captain; but las "gallant and distinguished conduct" on the fields of Palo Alto 
and Kesaca de la Palma, in 1846, brought him the brevets of major and lieu- 
tenant-colonel ; and the citizens of Philadelphia, in token of their approval of his 
valor, presented him with an elegant and costly sword. Soon after these battles 
he was appointed assistant-adjutant general, which staff appointment he retained 
until promoted major of the third infantry, in 1847. In Juno, 1850, he was in 
command of his regiment in New Mexico, when he received from President 
Taylor the appointment of inspector-general of the United States army, with the 
rank of colonel of cavalry. He served in this capacity until April 29th, 1853, 
when, on account of impaired health, he resigned- his commission, and retired to 
his country residence in Chester county, Pennsylvania, where lie remained till 
the spring of 1861. 

Immediately after the bombardment of Fort Sumter, Colonel McCall was 

called upon by Governor Curtin to organize a corps of fifteen thousand men to 
35 



206 NOTABLE MEN. 

be styled the Pennsylvania volunteer reserve corps, who, by act of the legisla- 
ture, were ordered for the defence of the state frontier. He obeyed the summons 
with alacrity ; organized twelve regiments of infantry, one of artillery, one of 
cavalry, and one of rifles ; and in two months marched to Washington at the 
head of this fine corps. It was soon after converted into a division of three 
brigades, and under his command (he having meanwhile received a commission 
as brigadier-general of volunteers, from the federal government) joined the army 
of the Potomac. Here, during the autumn and winter of 1861, they occupied 
the post of danger, being stationed from six to ten miles west of Washington. 

In December, 1861, General McCall learned, through his scouts, that the 
rebels proposed making a foray in force, in the \'icinitj' of Dranesville, Virginia, 
eleven miles in front of his camp, about tlie 20th of the month. On the morning 
of that day he marched out, with the determination of giving them battle, should 
they appear. The information proved to be correct. The enemy, under the 
command of General Stuart, having been apprised of his approach, occupied a 
position on the heiglits in front of Dranesville, and at once opened upon McCall's 
advancing column with their artillery. General McCall ordered his guns for- 
ward, and at once returned the fire. The line of battle was then formed, and, 
after a well-contested action of an hour and a half, the enemy were routed, and 
fled in disorder, leaving many of their dead and wounded on the field. The loss 
of the rebels in killed and wounded was about two hundred and fifty ; that of 
General McCall's force nineteen killed and sixty-two wounded. The troops en- 
gaged on each side were about equal, numbering not far from three thousand, 
comprising infantry and cavalry, and a battery of four guns on either side. 

General McCall was not again engaged in a battle until June 26th, 1862. 
when his Pennsylvania reserves, seven thousand in number, were attacked at 
Mechanicsville, in front of Richmond, by a rebel force fourteen thousand strong, 
under the command of their ablest general, Robert E. Lee. General McCall's 
position was a strong one, and was bravely defended. For five hours the enemy 
assailed it, attacking repeatedly and with the utmost determination, but each 
time they were driven back with great slaughter, until night closed the scene. 
The loss of the rebels, by their own showing, did not fall short of two thousand 
killed and wounded ; the fortieth North Carolina regiment having left one-half 
and the first Georgia three-fourths of their men on the field, according to their 
own published statements. The loss sustained by General McCall's division was 
thirty-three killed and one hundred and fifty wounded. 

At davlight the next morning (June 27th), General McCall received orders 
from General McClellan to withdraw to the rear of Gaines's Mills, about five 
miles distant. This movement, always a most difficult one to accomplish in the 
presence of an enemy, was so successfully completed, under fire, in the course 



GEORGE ARCHIBALD MoCALL. 207 

of three hours, and was eflected so regularly and gradually, that the foe was not 
aware of the fact till some time after the firing on the national side had ceased, 
and the division was on its march. The dead were buried, the wounded sent 
away, and not a gun or a knapsack left behind on the ground so gallantly main- 
tained. The same afternoon, the enemy, reinforced to the number of fifty thous- 
and men, pressed hard upon General Porter's corps of twenty-two thousand, with 
which the Pennsylvania reserves were temporarily serving, and compelled him, 
after four hours' hard fighting, to fall back across the Chickahominy. In this 
severe struggle General McCall's horse was twice wounded, but he and his troops 
received the praise of the commanding general for their steadfastness under a 
most galling and destructive fire. 

On the 30th of June, during that memorable retreat toward the James River, 
General McCall's division was ordered to halt at the crossing' of the Turkey 
Bridge and New Market roads, and defend the immense wagon-train which was 
trailing slowly on toward the James Eiver. His division had been reduced to 
about six thousand ; and he was required to stand at bay, and protect this train 
against General Lee, who advanced with Longstreet's and Hill's divisions, num- 
bering from eighteen to twenty thousand men. The odds were very great, but 
retreat was impossible ; so, fighting desperately, he maintained his position till 
nightfall, and, though the object was accomplished with a fearful loss of brave 
men, yet he secured the safe passage of the train, whose loss would have perilled 
the lives of a still greater number. 

At the close of the day, having silenced the fire of the rebels on the left and 
centre, General McCall brought up about five hundred men, his entire reserve, 
to oppose the enemy, who still kept up a scattering fire on the extreme right. 
The night was dark, and all his staff were either killed or put hors du combat by 
the loss of their horses ; of his personal escort, composed of one ofiieer and twenty 
cavalry soldiers, but one corporal and one private remained. Halting the bat- 
talion which he had brought up, in rear of the line of battle first occupied, and 
having no aide-de-camp, he rode forward about one hundred yards, to ascertain 
whether any of his men were still in front, and in the darkness found himself 
surrounded by the soldiers of the forty-seventh Virginia regiment, who were 
drawn up under some trees, and who at once made him prisoner. He was kept 
in prison and in close confinement at Richmond for six weeks, when, having been 
exchanged, he returned to his home in Chester county, for the benefit of his 
health, which had been sadly impaired by his imprisonment. On the 26th of 
August, the citizens of the county presented him a superb sword, as a testimony 
of their approval of his conduct while in command of the Pennsylvania reserves; 
the address at the presentation being made by Honorable John Hickman. 




JOHN A ANDREAV 



JOHN ALBIOI^ AlfDREW. 

JOHN" ALBION ANDREW, governor of Massachusetts, was bom in Wind- 
ham, Cumberland county, Maine, May 31st, 1818. The family of Andrew 
is one of the oldest in New England, its immediate ancestor having arrived 
among the early settlers, and has been connected by marriage with many of the 
colonial worthies, including Francis Higginson, the founder and pastor of the 
first church in Massachusetts Bay, from whom the subject of this memoir is 
directly descended. 

Entering Bowdoin College at the age of fifteen, he was graduated in 1837, 
and soon after commenced the study of law in Boston, where in 1840 he was 
admitted to the bar. To an enthusiasm for his profession he added a pleasing 
address, an exuberant flow of language, variety and force of expression, and that 
sympathetic quality, so u.seful to an advocate, which identifies him with the 
cause of his client. With these advantages, it is not surprising that he soon 
became a successful nisi-prius lawyer, and, as he gained in years and experience, 
an advocate before juries second only to Rufus Choate, the great leader of the 
Boston bar. But, though securing his full share of professional practice and 
emoluments, it was in arguments on questions of political significance before the 
state and federal courts that he gained most distinction ; and there have been 
few cases of late years in the Massachusetts courts involving such questions in 
which he has not appeared or been consulted as counsel. 

In 1854, Mr. Andrew appeared for the parties indicted for an attempt to 
rescue the fugitive slave Burns, and succeeded in quashing the indictment. In 
the following year, he defended the British consul at Boston against a charge of 
violating the neutrality laws. In 1856, he was concerned in an application to 
Judge Curtis, of the United States Supreme Court, for a writ of habeas corpus to 
test the legality of the imprisonment of certain free-state men in Kansas ; and in 
1859, he was instrumental in procuring counsel for the defence of John Brown, 
in Virginia. In the last-mentioned case he took a peculiar interest, and besides 
procuring the release of Hyatt and Sanborn, who were arrested by the United 
States marshal for Massachusetts, for refusing to appear before Senator Mason's 
committee of investigation, he was himself examined by that committee. In 
obedience to his views of professional propriety, he has also occasionally been 

retained in cases abhorrent to his svmpathies and well-defined opinions — a no- 
86 



210 NOTABLE MEX. 

table instance being the case of tlie slave-yacht Wanderer, which in 1860 he 
defended against a claim for forfeiture on the part of the government. 

Though always interested in political matters, Mr. Andrew for many years 
persistently declined to make any engagements or assume any connections which 
would interfere with his legal duties; and it was not until 1858 that he would 
consent to become a candidate for oflBce. In that year he was elected one of the 
members from Boston to the Massachusetts house of representatives, where his 
eminent talents in debate suggested him as a leader of the party in power, to 
which was opposed a vigorous minority led by Caleb Gushing, the attorney- 
general of the United States under President Pierce. 

A Whig until 1848, then a Free-Soiler, and since 1855 a member of the 
Republican party, Mr. Andrew brought to this important position a thorough 
knowledge of the prominent political topics of the day, and a self command and 
fluency of speech — the results of twenty years of professional training — which 
pro\-ed of great benefit to his part}'. But though gaining distinction as a parlia- 
mentary leader, he gladly resumed the practice of his profession at the close of 
the session, and declined a renomi nation to the legislature. With equal fimmess 
he declined to permit his name to be submitted to the Republican convention in 
1859 as a candidate for nomination as governor, or to accept the office of judge 
of the superior court of Massachusetts tendered to him in the same year by 
Governor Banks. 

In the spring of 1860, however, Mr. Andrew headed the delegation sent 
from Massachusetts to the Republican convention which met at Chicago to nom- 
inate a candidate for the joresidency, and cast his vote for Mr. Seward until the 
final ballot, when he voted for Mr. Lincoln. Upon returning to Massachusetts, 
he accepted the Republican nomination for governor, and after an animated can- 
vass, in which he spoke in every county in the state, was elected by the largest 
popular vote ever cast for a governor of Massachusetts, his majority over all 
other candidates being nearly forty thousand. 

The clouds which portended the outbreak of the Great Rebellion of 1801 
were beginning to gather on the horizon at the time of Governor Andrew's inau- 
guration, and he entered upon his office with the apprehension that the federal 
government would be compelled to assert its rights by force, and with the deter- 
mination to make military preparations for the approaching emergency. In his 
inaugural address he recommended that "the dormant militia, or some consider- 
able portion of it, now simply enrolled and not organized nor subject to drill, be 
placed on a footing of activity," in order that ^Massachusetts might "be ready, 
without inconvenient delay, to contribute her share of force in any exigency of 
public danger ;" and his first administrative act was to send a messenger to the 
capitals of several of the New England states, for the purpose of laying before 



JOHN ALBIOK ANDREW. 211 

their governors suggestions having a similar end in view. He soon after com- 
municated to General Scott, at Washington, a plan for dispatching the militia 
of Massachusetts to that city, in the event of any disturbance arising out of the 
official declaration of the vote for President. It is worthy of note that in this 
plan the possibility of the obstruction of the route through Baltimore was antici- 
pated, and tlie advance by way of Annapolis suggested. The available disci- 
plined militia of the commonwealth at that time did not exceed five thousand 
men, a body sufficient for any local exigencies likely to arise ; and the legislature, 
less apprehensive than Governor Andrew of the necessity of appealing to arms, 
were unwilling to enlarge this force by calling into service any considerable 
number of the enrolled but unorganized militia. The governor, howe^•er, amid 
much opposition, ordered all company commanders of the organized militia to 
report the number of men in their respective commands incapable of responding 
at once to any call the President might make upon them, in order that their 
places might be filled " by men ready for any public exigency which might arise, 
whenever called upon.'' Soon afterward, he entered into contracts for complete 
equipments for two thousand of these troops. 

In the midst of these preparations the rebel batteries opened upon Fort 
Sumter, and on the morning of April loth a requisition from the war department 
for two regiments from Massachusetts reached Governor Andrew. With the 
promptness of their forefathers, the minute-men of the Eevolution, the troops 
began on the same day to assemble from many different points at Faneuil Hall ; 
and within a week, instead of the two regiments called for, five regiments of 
infantry, a battalion of riflemen, and a battery of light artillerj', were collected at 
Washington, Annapolis, or Fortress Monroe, or were far advanced on their way 
thither. The wise foresight of Governor Andrew in preparing the commonwealth 
to respond in this crisis with alacrity, and in a manner becoming her ancient 
reputation for patriotism, was duly acknowledged by the people ; and the banks 
rendered their testimony to his high integrity by placing at his disposal volun- 
tary loans to the amount of six and a half millions of dollars, to be expended at 
his discretion, the legislature having failed to provide funds for the emergency. 
An agent was immediately dispatched to Europe, to purchase arms ; steamers, 
loaded with munitions and reinforcements, were sent to the Potomac ; and Mas- 
sachusetts ti-oops were among the first to reach Washington by sea as they had 
been by land. Throwing aside party prejudices, the governor selected as the 
commander of the troops his unsuccessful Democratic competitor for the office 
of governor, an act which tended to produce a unanimity of feeling and purpose 
througliout the commonwealth, and to disappoint an expectation fondly cher- 
ished by the rebel leaders that political animosities would prevent the North 
from acting with any degree of vigor in the struggle. 



212 NOTABLE MEN. 

Nor did Governor Andrew stop short with these measures. In response to 
his stirring appeals, thirteen thousand men were under arms in Massachusetts 
before the middle of May, 1861, for whose enlistment he made himself person- 
ally responsible. The government, distrusting the dimensions which the rebel- 
lion was about to assume, accepted less than half the number, and advised the 
governor to disband the rest. The latter, confident that every man he had called 
out would be needed, laid the subject before an extra session of the Massachusetts 
legislature, convened on May 14th, in a message of great eloquence, which was 
widely read and admired; and an act was passed, authorizing five thousand 
troops to be placed in camps, at the expense of the commonwealth, to await the 
requisition of the President. 

The disastrous defeat at Bull Eun, in July, having brought the administra- 
tion to realize the necessity of increasing the number of the federal forces in the 
field, Governor Andrew again received a recognition of his foresight, in the de- 
mand upon Massachusetts for a larger quota of men than had been offered and 
refused in May. With his customary energy, he proceeded to organize addi- 
tional regiments, all of which were ready to march or in the field by the begin- 
ning of winter, and have since rendered etficieut service in many jjarts of the 
country. 

Upward of four millions of dollars were expended in the equipment of the 
Massachusetts contingent during the first year of the war ; and no stronger testi- 
mony to the integrity of Governor Andrew's administration can be adduced than 
the report (in April, 1862) of a legislative committee, appointed to investigate 
the manner in which these funds had been disbursed, and which contained no 
allegation of improper conduct on the part of any person connected with the 
government. 

During the latter part of 1861, Governor Andrew was brought into tempo- 
rary collision with ilajor-General Butler, of the United States volunteers, who 
fixed his head-quarters in Boston, and assumed to enlist and organize volunteers, 
and appoint officers — a proceeding which the governor opposed with ability and 
success as an encroachment upon his official prerogative. 

In November, 1861, he was re-elected governor by a vote of sixtv-five 
thousand two hundred and fifty-one, to thirty-one thousand eight hundred and 
ninety-two for all others. He responded with alacrity to the call of the Presi- 
dent in May, 1862, for militia regiments to protect Washington, when threatened 
by the rebel General Jackson, although the troops collected by him for this 
emergency were to a very limited extent called into the service; and during the 
succeeding summer and autumn his time was almost constantly employed in 
preparing for the field the additional troops, both volunteers and militia, which 
Massachusetts was called upon to furnish to the general government. In this 



JOHN ALBION ANDREW. 213 

service, as on other occasions, he has made repeated visits to Washington and 
other places, held conferences with governors of states, and performed a multi- 
tude of important duties. At the Republican state convention held September 
10th, 1862, he was for the third time nominated for governor, with every pros- 
pect of being re-elected by a large vote. 

Governor Andrew is in the prime of manhood, of middle stature, and an 
erect and somewhat portly figure. His head is square in shape, well developed, 
and covered with short, curly hair ; and his features indicate vivacity and intel- 
ligence, the mouth being expressive of decision and firmness. In private life he 
is much esteemed for amiability and active benevolence. 





(l(ytfry?'&'^^d&^^^t- 



N4Ajnh' Kf)P^>.KT A'NDF.KS 
:'"^ pvjl"^ ■.'_>'^.' .v.i' 



ROBERT AITDERSOl^r. 

IN the history of the Southern Conspiracy, General Robert Anderson must 
hold a distinguished place, being the first federal officer against whom the 
fatal thought of rebellion took voice in the throat of a cannon ; and though 
his shattered health has constrained him to play no further part in the tragedy 
which he opened with such brilliancy, his loyalty to "old glory," his wise cour- 
age and Christian firmness, in that one hour of peril, will ever keep his name 
honored and revered among the American people. 

General Anderson came from a patriotic and military fiimily. His father. 
Captain Richard C. Anderson, was the man whose little band surprised an out- 
post of the Hessians at Trenton, on the night prior to the decisive battle of that 
place — an attack which the Hessian commander, Colonel Rahl, then on the look- 
out for Washington, construed to be the whole assault against which he had 
been warned. General Washington met Anderson retreating with liis company, 
and was very indignant at what they had done, fearing it would prepare the 
enemy for their advance in force. The result, however, proved the contrary, and 
Anderson was then complimented on the exploit. Captain Anderson served 
with Washington throughout the New Jersey campaign. 

The subject of this sketch is a native of the state of Kentucky. The blood 
of a brave soldier ran in his veins, and displayed itself in his earlv desire to 
adopt the profession of arms. Passing over young Anderson's preliminary 
studies and scholastic successes, we find him, in 1832, acting inspector-general 
of Illinois volunteers in the Black Hawk War. He filled this situation, with 
credit to himself, from May until the ensuing October. In the following June 
1833, he was made first-lieutenant. From 1835 to 1837 he occupied the respon- 
sible post of assistant instructor and inspector at the United States military 
academy. He was assigned to the staff' of General Winfield Scott as aide-de- 
camp in 183S ; and in 1839 published his " Instructions for Field Artillerv, Horse 
and Foot, arranged for the Service of the United States" — a handbook of great 
practical value. 

Lieutenant Anderson's services during the Indian troubles were acknowl- 
edged by a brevet captaincy, April 2d, 1838. In July of the same year, he was 
made assistant adjutant-general, with the rank of captain, which he subsequently 



216 NOTABLE MEN. 

relinquished on being promoted to a captaincy iu his own regiment, the third 
artillery. 

In March, 1847, he was with his regiment in the army of General Scott, and 
took part in the siege of Vera Cruz ; being one of the officers to whom was in- 
trusted, by Colonel Bankhead, the command of the batteries. This duty he 
accomplished with signal skill and gallantry. He remained with the army until 
its triumphant entry into the Mexican capital the following September. 

During the operations in the valley of Mexico, Captain Anderson was at- 
tached to the brigade of General Garland, which formed a portion of General 
Worth's division. In the attack on El Molino del Eey, September 8th, Ander- 
son was severelv wounded. Ilis admirable conduct under the circumstances was 
the theme of praise on the part of his men and superior officers. Captain Burke, 
his immediate commander, in his dispatch of September 9th, says: "Captain 
Robert Anderson (acting field-officer) behaved with great heroism on this occa- 
sion. Even after receiving a severe and painful wound, he continued at the 
head of the column, regardless of i^ain and self-preservation, and setting a hand- 
some example to his men of coolness, energy, and courage." General Garland 
speaks of him as being " with some few others the very first to enter the strong 
position of El Molino ;' and adds that " Brevet-Major Buchanan, fourth infantry, 
Captain Robert Anderson, third artillery, and Lieutenant Sedgwick, second artil- 
lery, appear to have been particularly distinguished for their gallant defence of 
the captured works." In addition to tliis testimon}', General Worth directed the 
attention of the secretary of war to the part he had taken in the action. He was 
made brevet-major, his commission dating from the day of the battle. 

In the year 1851, he was promoted to the full rank of major, in the first 
artillerv. It was while holdino; this rank, and in command of the samson of 
Fort ^Moultrie, that the storm which has so devastated this fair land first gathered 
strength and broke upon us. 

On the 2Gth day of December, 1860, the state of South Carolina declared 
itself out of the Union. The event was celebrated in numerous Southern towns 
and cities by the firing of salutes, military parades, and secession speeches. At 
New Orleans, a bust of Calhoun was exhibited, decorated with a cockade : and 
at Memphis the citizens burned Senator Andrew Johnson in effigy. The plague 
of disloyalty overspread the entire South. In the mean time, while the commis- 
sioners from South Carolina and the plotting members of Congress from the bor- 
der states were complicating mattei-s with a timid and vacillating President. Major 
Anderson found himself, with less than a hundred men, shut up in an untenable 
fort, his own government fearing to send him reinforcements. Cut off from aid 
or supplies, menaced on every side, the deep murmurs of war growing louder and 
more threatening, the position of Major Anderson and his handful of men became 



ROBERT ANDERSON. 217 

imminent in tlie extreme. At this juncture of afiairs, the brave soldier gave us 
an illustration of his forethought and sagacity. 

One sunny morning, crowds of anxious people fringed the wharves of 
Charleston, watching the mysterious curls of smoke that rose lazily from the 
ramparts of Fort Moultrie, and floated off seaward — smoke from the burning 
gun-carriages. 

On the night previous, Major Anderson had quietly removed his men and 
stores to Fort Sumter, the strongest of the Charleston fortifications, and the key 
of its defences. The deserted guns of Moultrie were spiked, and the carriages 
burned to cinders. The evacuation of the fort commenced a little after sunset. 
The men were ordered to hold themselves in readiness, with their knapsacks 
packed, at a second's notice ; but up to the moment of their leaving they had 
no idea of abandoning the post. They were reviewed on parade, and then or- 
dered to two schooners lying in the vicinity. The garrison flag unwound itself 
to the morning over Sumter. 

The rage of the South at this unexpected strategic manoeuvre, was equalled 
in its intenseness only by the thrill of joy which ran through the North. Major 
Anderson and his command were safe, for the time being, and treason discon- 
certed. " Major Eobert Anderson," says the Charleston Courier, bitterly, " has 
achieved the unenviable distinction of opening civil war between American citi- 
zens, by an act of gross breach of faith." The sequel proved his prudence. 
Having all the forts of the harbor under his charge, he had, necessarily, the right 
to occupy whatever post he deemed expedient. He did his duty, and he did it 
well. His course was sustained in the House of Eepresentatives, January 7th, 
1861. 

Before the first burst of indignation had subsided, Fort Moultrie was taken 
possession of by the South Carolinians, and carefully put into a state of defence. 
The rebel convention ordered immense fortifications to be built in and about 
Charleston harbor, to resist any reinforcements that might be sent to Major An- 
derson. Strong redoubts were thrown up on Morris' and James' Islands, and 
Forts Moultrie, Johnson, and Castle Pinckney, stood ready to belch flame and 
iron on the devoted little garrison. Sumter was invested : no ship could ap- 
proach the place in the teeth of those sullen batteries. 

On the 8th of April, information ha^'ing been given by the United States 
government to the authorities of Charleston, that they desired to send supplies to 
Fort Sumter on an unamicd transport, they were informed that the vessel would 
be fired upon and not allowed to enter the port. The United States government 
then ofiicially advised the insurgents that supplies would be sent to Major Ander- 
son, peaceably if possible, otherwise by force. Lieutenant Talbot, attached to 

the garrison of Fort Sumter, and bearer of this dispatch, was not permitted to 
37 



218 ROTABLE ME^'. 

proceed to his post. The steamer Star of the West was signalled at the entrance 
of the harbor on the morning of the 9th. She displayed the United States flag, 
but was fired into, repeatedly, from Morris' Island batter\% Her course was then 
altered, and she again put out to sea. 

A formidable floating battery, constructed and manned at Charleston, was 
taken out of dock on the evening of the 10th, and anchored in a cove near Sul- 
livan's Island. About seven thousand troops now crowded the earthworks and 
forts, under command of General G. T. Beauregard. The rejjort that a fleet lay 
off the bay, waiting for a favorable tide to enter the harbor and relieve the fort, 
caused the greatest excitement in Charleston. 

On the afternoon of April 11th, Colonel Chestnut and Major Lee, aids to 
General Beauregard, conveyed to Fort Sumter the demand that Major Anderson 
should evacuate that fort. Major Anderson refused to accede to the demand. 
On being waited on by a second deputation (April 12, 1 A. ii.), desiring him to 
state what time he would evacuate, and to stipulate not to fire upon the batteries 
in the mi an time. Major Anderson replied that he would evacuate at the noon of 
the 15th, if not previously otherwise ordered, or not supplied, and that he would 
not in the meanwhile oi^en his fire unless comjiellcd V)v some hostile act against 
his fort or the flag of his government. At 3.30 A. M., the ofiicers who received 
this answer notified Major Anderson that the batteries under command of Gen- 
eral Beauregard, would open on Fort Sumter in one hour, and inmiediately left. 
The sentinels ou Sumter were then ordered in from the parapets, the posterns 
closed, and the men directed not to leave the bomb-proofs until summoned by the 
drum. The garrison had but two days' rations. 

At -1.30 Friday mcjrning, fire was opened upon Fort Sumter from Fort Moid- 
trie, and soon after from the liatteries on Mount Pleasant and Cummings' Point, 
then from an unsuspected masked battery of heavy columbiads on Sullivan's 
Island. It soon became es'ldent that no part of the beleagured fort was without 
the range of the enemv's guns. A rim of scarlet fire encircled it. ^Meanwhile 
the undaunted little band of seventy true men, took breakfast quietly at the reg- 
ular hour, reserving their fire until 7 A. si., when they opened their lower tier of 
guns upon Fort Moultrie, the iron battery on Cummings' Point, the two works 
on Sullivan's Island, and the floating battery, simultaneously. When the first 
relief went to work, the enthusiasm of the men was so great that the second and 
tliird reliefs could not be kept from the guns. The rebel iron battery was of im- 
mense strength, and our balls glanced from it like hail-stones. Fort Moultrie, 
however, stood the cannonading badly, a great many of our shells taking eflect 
in the embrasures. Shells from every point burst against the various walls of 
Sumter, and the fire upon the parapet became so terrific that Major Anderson 
refused to allow the men to work the barbette guns. There wcie no cartridge- 



ROBERT ANDERSON. 219 

bags, and the men were set to making them out of shirts. Fire broke out in the 
barracks three times, and was extinguished. Meals were served at the guns. At 
6 P. M. the fire from Sumter ceased. Fire was kept up by the enemy during the 
night, at intervals of twenty-five minutes. 

At daybreak the following morning the bombardment recommenced. Fort 
Sumter resumed operations at 7 A. M. An hour afterward the officers' quarters 
took fire from a shell, and it was necessary to detach nearly all the men from the 
guns to stop the conflagration. Shells from Moultrie and Morris' Island now fell 
faster than ever. The effect of the enemy's shot, on the officers' quarters in pai'- 
ticular, was terrible. One tower was so completely demolished that not one brick 
was left standing upon another. The main gates were blown away, and the walls 
considerably weakened. Fearful that they might crack, and a shell pierce the 
magazine, ninety -six barrels of powder were emptied into the sea ; finally the 
magazine had to be closed ; the material for cartridges was exhausted, and the 
garrison was left destitute of any means to continue the contest. The men had 
eaten the last biscuit thirty-six hours before. They were nearly stifled by the 
dense, livid smoke from the burning buildings, lying prostrate on the groirnd 
with wet handkerchiefs over their mouths and eyes. The crashing of the shot, 
the bursting of the shells, the falling of the masonry, and the mad roaring of the 
flames, made a pandemonium of the place. Strangely enough, but four men had 
been injured, thus far, and those only slightly. 

Toward the close of the day, ex-Senator Wigfall suddenly made his appear- 
ance at an embrasure with a white handkerchief on the point of a sword, and 
begged to see Major Anderson, asserting that he came from General Beauregard. 

"Well, sir!" said Major Anderson, confronting him. 

General Wigfall, in an excited manner, then demanded to know on what 
terms Major Anderson would evacuate the position. The major infonned him 
that General Beauregard was already advised of the terms. "Then, sir," said 
Wigfall, " the fort is ours." " On those conditions," rejjlied Major Anderson. 
During this interview the firing from Moultrie and Sullivan's Island had not 
ceased, though General Wigfall timidly displayed a white flag at an embrasure 
facing the batteries. Wigfall retired. 

A short time afterward a deputation, consisting of Senator Chestnut, Roger 
A. Pryor, and two others, came from General Beauregard, and had an interview 
with Major Anderson : it then turned out that the officious Wigfall had " acted 
on his own hook," without any authority whatever from his commanding gen- 
eral. After a protracted consultation and a second deputation. Major Anderson 
agreed to evacuate Fort Sumter the next day. This was Saturday evening. 
That night the garrison took what rest it could. Next morning the Isabel an- 
chored near the fort to receive the gallant little band. The terms of evacuation 



220 NOTABLE MEN. 

were that the garrison should take all its individual and company property ; that 
they should march out with their side and other arms with all the honors, in 
their own way, and at their own time ; that they should salute their flag and take 
it with them. 

With their tattered flag flying, and the band playing national airs, these sev- 
enty heroes marched out of Fort Sumter. Seventy to seven thousand ! 

Major Anderson's heroic cond^ict had drawn all loyal hearts toward him, and 
it was the wish of the country that he shoxild immediately l>e invested with some 
important command. He was made a brigadier-general, and sent to Kentucky 
to superintend the raising of troops in that state. But the terrible ordeal through 
which he had just passed, and the results of hardships undergone in Mexico, un- 
fitted him for active duty. Since then. General Anderson has resided in New 
York City. 

A tall, elderly gentleman in iindress uniform, leading a little child by the 
hand, is often seen passing slowly along Broadway. His fine, intellectual face is 
the index to the genuine goodness and nobility of his heart. Though men of 
noisier name meet you at each corner, j'our eyes follow pleasantly after this one 
— Robert Anderson. 





COM s F i;)ri'()XT, r s X 



SAMUEL FRANCIS DU POI^T. 

SAMUEL FRANCIS DU PONT, rear-admiral in the United States navy, 
was born at Bergen Point, New Jersey, September 27tb, 1803. His grand- 
fatber, Pierre Samuel Du Pont de Nemours, well known in Frcneb bistory as a 
political economist, and a representative in tbe Chamber of Notables and the 
States-General, emigrated to America witb bis two sons, Victor and E. S. Du 
Pont, at the close of tbe year 1799. The elder of these resided in the state of 
New York until 1809, when he removed witb bis family to tbe neigbborbood of 
Wilmington, Delaware, of which state bis son. Admiral Du Pont, is a resident 
and citizen. Tbe latter was, in 1815, when but twelve years of age, commissioned 
by President Madison a midshipman in tbe United States navy ; and it is an 
interesting fact that Mr. Jefferson, alluding to tbe appointment in a letter to bis 
o-randfatber, expressed tbe hope that be might live to be an admiral. He sailed 
on bis first cruise in 1817, on board tbe Franklin, seventy-four, under Commo- 
dore Stewart, and tbencefortb for many years performed the ordinary routine 
duties of bis profession, which, owing to tbe peaceful relations subsisting between 
the United States and foreign powers, were of no special importance. He, bow- 
ever, showed bimself an active and able officer, in whatever capacity employed, 
and saw a fair ])roportion of sea-service. 

In 1845, being then a commander, Du Pont was ordered to tbe Pacific, in 
command of tbe frigate Congress, bearing tbe liroad pennant of Commodore 
Stockton, and was on tbe California coast at tbe commencement of tbe war witb 
Mexico. He was soon after put in command of tbe sloop-of-war Cyane, and, in 
the varied and difficult service wbicb fell to bis lot, acquitted bimself witb pru- 
dence and gallantry, taking a conspicuous part in tbe conquest of Lower Cali- 
fornia. Four different commodores commanding on that station testified to tbe 
faithful manner in wbicb be discharged bis duties, and the secretary of tbe navy 

added tbe unqualified approval of bis department. ^ 

Early in February, 1848, Commander Du Pont, while lying off La Paz, as- 
certained that a brother-officer. Lieutenant Heywood, witb four midshipmen and 
a few mai'ines, was beleaguered in tbe mission-bouse of San Jose by an over- 
powering force of Mexicans under Colonel Pineda. He immediately sailed for 
tbe latter place, landed on tbe 15tb of tbe montb a force of one bundred and two 



222 NOTABLE MEN. 

men of all ranks, and, defeating and dispersing the besiegers, who outnumbered 
him four or five to one, rescued the hard-pressed but dauntless little band of his 
countrymen. " I Avant words," wrote Commodore Shubrick, the commanding 
officer of the station, ''to express my sense of the gallant conduct of these officers, 
but feel that I am perfectly safe in saj'ing that the annals of war cannot furnish 
instances of greater coolness, of more indomitable perseverance, of more conspic- 
uous bravery, and of sounder judgment." 

In 185(3, Dii Pont attained the rank of captain, and in the siicceeding year 
was placed in command of the steam-frigate Minnesota, which conveyed Mr. 
Reed, the American minister, to China. Arriving during the Anglo-French war 
with the Chinese, he was one of the first who visited Canton after its bombard- 
ment, and was also an eye-witness of the capture by the allies of the forts at the 
mouth of the Peiho River. He returned to the United States in 1859, having 
extended his cruise to Japan and the coast of southern Asia, and on January 1st, 
1861, was appointed to the command of the Philadelphia navj'-yard. 

The outbreak of the Southern Rebellion found Du Pont on the active list 
of captains, and v,'ith a reputation for professional capacity and fidelity of which 
the government was not slow -to avail itself. As a means of crushing the naval 
power of the rebels, and cutting them off effectually from supplies, it was early 
determined to occupy one or more important points on the Southern coast, where 
the blockading squadrons or cruisers of the government might resort for shelter 
or supplies, or rendezvous for expeditions ; and to Captain Du Pont was intrusted 
the selection of such a place. After consultation between Mr. Fox, assistant sec- 
retary of the navy, and himself, the harbor of Port Royal, on the coast of South 
Carolina, was fixed upon ; and during the summer and autumn of 1861, prepa- 
rations for a joint naval and military expedition thither were vigorously Imt 
quietly pursued. The land-forces, under the command of General Thomas "W. 
Sherman, assembled at Annapolis, whence on October 21st they were conveyed 
in transports to Fortress Monroe, to join the fleet of war-vessels under Conmio- 
dore Du Pont with which they were intended to co-operate. On the 20th. the 
whole fleet, numbering upward of fifty sail, weighed anchor and stood out to sea, 
led by the steam-frigate Wabash, Ijcai-ing the broad pennant of Commodore Du 
Pont, as commander of the South Atlantic blockading squadron. On the after- 
noon of November 1st, a heavy gale set in, which increased in violence during 
the night, and raged with fury until the next evening, dispersing the fleet in all 
directions, and causing the loss of several transports and a quantity of material. 
On Monday, the 4th, the greater part of the fleet had assembled otf Port Royal 
bar, which lies ten miles seaward, and is about two miles in width ; and the small 
steamer Yixon was immediately dispatched to find the channel, and replace the 
buoys removed by the rebels. This having been accomplished early in the after- 



SAMUEL FRANCIS DU PONT. 223 

uoon of the same day, the gunboats and lighter transports were immediately sent 
forward, dispersing a fleet of small rebel steamers, under Commodore Tatnall; 
and a reconnoissance discovered that Hilton Head and Bay Point, commanding 
the entrance to Port Royal harbor, called Broad River, wbicli is bere about two 
and a half miles wide, were protected by works of great strength, scientifically 
constructed, and mounted with guns of heavy calibre. Fort Walker, on Hilton 
Head, at the southerly entrance of the river, mounted twenty-three pieces, many 
of which were rifled, and was the defence mainly relied upon for the protection 
of the harbor. The works on Bay Point comprised Fort Beauregard mounting 
fifteen guns, and a battery of four guns about half a mile distant. 

On Tuesday morning, the 5th, the Wabash crossed the bar, followed by the 
frigate Susquehanna and the larger transports ; and another reconnoissance, made 
by the gunboats, satisfied the commodore of the superiority of Fort Walker, against 
which he determined to direct his chief efforts. Wednesday being a stormy day, 
the attack upon the forts was deferred until Thursday morning, the 7th. 

The plan was, for the ships to steam in a circle or ellipse between the forts, 
running close to Hilton Head as they came down the river, and pouring broad- 
sides into Fort Walker ; and, on their return, attacking in a similar manner Fort 
Beauregard. The squadron was drawn up in two columns, the larger being 
headed by the Wabash, and at half-past nine in the moj-ning stood into Broad 
River, and moved up past Fort Beauregard. At a few minutes before ten the 
action became general, and for four hours a continuous stream of shot and shell 
was poured tipon the rebel forts. The Wabash, directed by Commodore Du 
Pont in person, was carried by the soundings as close to the shore as possible, 
the engines working with barely enough power to give her steerage-way, and 
pi'oceeded with such deliberation, that but three circuits were accomplished 
during the fight. At the same time her signals were given as regularly as on an 
ordinary occasion. Her heavy guns played with terrible effect upon the enemy, 
and she was herself a prominent target for the guns of either fort. The commo- 
dore estimated that he saved a hundred lives by keejiing under way and bear- 
ing in close, and subsequently stated that he never conceived of such a fire as 
that of the Wabash in her second turn. She also bore in great measure the 
brunt of the enemy's fire ; as, after the first circuit, the small gunboats took their 
positions at discretion, and the Susquehanna and Bienville were her only com- 
panions. At two o'clock, the enemy's fire began to slacken, and he was soon 
discovered in rapid flight from Fort Walker toward a neighboring wood. At 
half-jjast two, the work was occupied by a party from the Wabash, and on the 
succeeding morning Fort Beauregard was found deserted by its garrison. The 
casualties of the fleet were eight killed and twenty-three wounded ; and the rebel 
loss is supposed to have amounted to between one and two hundred. In the 



224 NOTABLE MEN. 

hurry of their flight they also abandoned every tiling hut their muskets. This 
victory, the most considerahle gained since the defeat at Bull Eun, excited uni- 
versal enthusiasm throughout the loyal states, and contributed very materially to 
restore confidence in the abihty of the government to crush the i-ebellion, as Avell 
as to increase the cdal which had attended the naval operations in the war. 

Commodore Du Pont immediately took active measures to follow up his 
success ; and his fleet has since been busily employed in expeditions along the 
coast, or in co-operating with the land-forces \mder General Shemian and the 
other military officers. During the year that he has commanded the South At- 
lantic blockading squadron, the vigilance of his subordinates has veiy materially 
checked the violations of the blockade so frequent in the early part of the war, 
and numerous captures of valuable vessels and cargoes have added to the re- 
sources of the government. In August, 1862, he was nominated by the President 
one of the seven roar-aihnirals on the active list authorized to be appointed by 
act of Congress. 

Apart from his sea-service, which covers a period of nearly a quarter of a 
century, Admiral Du Pont has been employed on shore in numerous important 
public duties requiring the exercise of high professional knowledge and experi- 
ence. He was one of the offieei-s consulted Ijy Mr. Bancroft, when secretary of 
the navy, in regard to tVic formation of a na'/al school ; and a member of the 
board which organized the academy at Annapolis on its subsequent efficient 
footing. He has also served on boards convened for the purpose of making 
codes of rules and regulations for the government of the service, for the exami- 
nation of midshipmen, and similar purposes, and was for three years a prominent 
member of the lighthouse board, taking an active part in the creation of the 
present system for lighting the coast. He also performed the unwelcome duties 
of a member of the naval retiring board of 1655. More important than any of 
these services, perhaps, were his investigations with reference to the introduction 
of floating batteries for coast defence, which were cmliodied in a report esteemed 
of so much value, that it has been republished separately, and veiy generally con- 
sulted by officers of the engineer-corps. The late Lieutenant-General Sir Howard 
Douglas, the chief English authority on the subject, in a recent edition of his 
standard work on gunnery, has cited its opinions and conclusions with respect, 
and styles it "an admirable work." The private as well as the public career of 
Admiral Du Pont is without reproach. " No man," said Mr. Clayton, of Delaware, 
in the United States Senate, in allusion to his services, '■ is more beloved or hon- 
ored by his brother-officers in the navy, or more respected as an accomplished 
officer, sailor, and gentleman. No man living stands in higher repute wherever 
he is known." 




■En-g.^VAHBit'iii'^ 




CO 




COL. EDWARD D. BAKER 



' CALIFORNIA VOLUNTj;£:HS 



jreWTOBKrO F PtTEHAU. 



EDWARD D. BAKEE. 

THE death of a soldier iu honorable warfare, on a well-fought field, is an 
event so intimately connected with his calling, that the mind is always more 
or less jirepared for the calamity, however sudden may be its approach. Choice has 
made him " seek renown even in the jaws of danger and of deatii,'' and chance 
holds the scales in which his fate is weighed. But when one who has gained 
distinction in the peaceful walks of civil life, whose eloquent voice has moved 
multitudes to enthusiasm or to tears, and wlio has taken the sword from motives 
of patriotism only, is cut off in the midst of fame and usefulness, fighting in the 
ranks of a loyal arm\-, the community receives a shock from which it does not 
readily i-ecover, refusing for a time to be comforted. Such was the feeling occa- 
sioned by the death of Colonel Baker, who, at the call of a betrayed and tlircat- 
ened country, forsook his seat in the halls of the national legislature for the field 
of battle, and there "foremost fighting, fell." 

Edward D. Baker, late a Senator of the United States from Oregon, and 
colonel of the first California regiment, was born in London, England, on the 
24th day of Fcbruarj^, in the year 1811. His father, Edward Baker, a member 
of the Society of Friends, was a man of education and refinement ; and his moth- 
er's brother. Captain Dickinson, of the royal navy, was one of the heroes of Tra- 
falgar, where he fought under Lord Collingwood. In 1815, the elder Baker 
removed with his family to Philadelphia, whence ten years later he made a fur- 
ther migration to Illinois, and settling in tJie pleasant town of Belleville, in St. 
Clair county, established there an academy for boj^s, on what was tlien called the 
Lancasterian plan of instruction. Here his son Edward, a handsome and intelli- 
gent boy, received his principal education, giving even then many indications of 
the brilliant talents he was destined to develop in mature life. Not content with 
his prescribed studies, he would devour whatever books came within his reach, 
storing his mind with almost every thing which the wide range of literature em- 
braced. To great industry, energy, and perseverance, he united a memory almost 
superhuman ; and such were his powers of concentration, that the hasty perusal 
of a book would enalile him to repeat verbatim whole pages of it. Hence the 
ready and almost inexhaustible fund of varied knowledge which in aftei'-Iife 
astonished those wlio knew the circumstances of his childhood, and which con- 

38 



:.'-b NOTABLE MKX. 

tributed in no slight degree to his success as a public speaker. As an illustration 
of the ambition for public life wbich even then began to stir him, it is related 
that a friend surprised him one day weeping bitterly over a volume which he 
was perusing, and asked him what book it was that so afiected him. "The Con- 
titution of the United States," was the reply. "I find that no foreigner can be 
President, and I am of English birth." 

At the age of eighteen, young Baker removed to Carrollton, in Greene 
county, where he obtained a deputy clerkship in the county court ; and in the 
intervals of his office labors applied himself with diligence to the study of law, 
which he determined to make his profession. Before reaching his majority he 
was admitted to the bar, after a highly creditable examination, ami commenced 
practice in Carrollton. Po.5sessing a practical knowledge of the details of bis 
profession remarkable in so young a man, he soon showed also powers of oratory 
which placed him high as an advocate, at the very head of the bar in his circuit, 
and gave him a considerable reputation outside the courts of law. 

About 1832-"33, a noted revival took place among the Christians or Camp- 
bellite Ba 'tist-^ iu Illinois, under the influence of which Mr. Baker became a 
convert to the doctrines of the sect. Impressed with the belief that his abilities 
as a public speaker ought to be emplo^'ed in the service of religion, he regularly 
devoted his Sundays, and such other time as he could sj^are from professional 
duties, to preaching ; and in this course he persevered for several years, with high 
reputation as a pulpit orator. 

In 1838, finding Carrollton too limited a lield for his forensic powers, Mr. 
Baker removed to Springfield, then recently created the capital of the state, and 
immediately embarked in a lucrative practice. Among the many distinguished 
men with whom he then entered into competition were President Lincoln, the 
late Senator Douglas, Senators Trumbull and McDougal (the latter now of Cali- 
fornia), General Shields, and Colonel Bissell, not one of whom equalled him in 
the ready flow, the brilliancy, or the pathos, of his eloquence. In respect to 
voice, grace of delivery, and the other outward attributes of the orator, he far 
surpassed all of his contemporaries. These (jualitics suggested him as an aspi- 
rant for political honors; and in 1844, having previously held a seat in both 
houses of the state legislature, he was elected l)y the Whigs to represent the 
Springfield district (the only one in the state controlled by that party) in the 
twentv-ninth Congress, which met in the succeeding year. He was rapidly ma- 
king himself known as one of the leaders of that body, when the Mexican War 
broke out: and. unal)le to resist the fascinations of a military career, he obtained 
permission from President Polk to raise a regiment in Illinois for the relief of 
General Tavlor. Within two weeks it was recruited, equipped, and on the way 
to New Orleans, being the first one embarked from north of the Ohio. On the 



EDWAKD D. KAKER. -'-< 

Rio Grande he was dangerously wounded in the neck, in repressing a mutiny in 
a Mississippi regiment, and in consequence was unable to participate in the hard- 
fought battles of Monterey and Buena Vista. 

Having resumed his seat in Congress for a few months, Colonel Baker re- 
joined his regiment before Vera Cruz, and marched with the ai-my under Scott 
for Mexico. At Cerro Gordo his regiment, which formed part of the brigade of 
General Shields, took a prominent part in the assault upon the enemy's works; 
and upon the fall of Shields, severely wounded. Colonel Baker, assuming the 
command of the brigade, led it forward with a gallantry and da.sh which greatly 
contributed to the success of the day, and elicited the warm commendation of 
Generals Scott and Twiggs, and other high officers. 

The term for which his men had enlisted having expired soon afterward, 
Colonel Baker returned home in the summer of 1847, and claimed from his 
friends a renomination to Congress. Being disappointed in this, he removed 
immediately to the Galena district, which for many years had liecn under the 
control of the Democrats, and taking the stump as a candidate in 184:8, con- 
ducted an exciting canvass with a vigor and ability surpassing any of his previ- 
ous efforts. The result was, his election to Congress by a large majority. Ho 
served through his term, with credit ; but his mind, unsettled by the excitements 
of military life, was revolving schemes of adventure or political power in the 
newly-acquired possessions of tlie rcpul)lie on the Pacific coast — the El Dorado 
of the West, toward which so many were already directing longing eyes. In 
1852, he removed with his family to California, whither his reputation had pre- 
ceded him, and, settling in San Francisco, he at once built up a large practice, 
and by common consent was acknowledged to be the most eloquent speaker in 
the state. The death of Senator Broderick in a duel, imder circumstances which 
made it certain that a deep-laid plot had been conceived to murder him for his 
bold denunciations of slavery and the corrupt practices of the administration, 
afforded a memorable instance of the oratorical powers of Colonel Baker; and 
his address, delivered over the body of the deceased, aroused in a vast audience, 
collected in the principal square of San Francisco, the wildest emotions of grief. 
"Never, perhaps," says one who was present on tlie occasion, "was eloquence 
more thrilling; never certainly was it better adapted to the temper of its listen- 
ers. The merits of the eulogy divided public encomiums with the virtues of the 
deceased, and the orator became invested with the dead Senator's political for- 
tunes." 

But California was at that time too thoroughly under the control of the 
Democratic l^arty to enable Colonel Baker, who had become associated with the 
Republicans, to enter the political arena with any prospect of success ; and in 
1859, liaving in the previous year been defeated as Republican candidate for 



228 NOTABLE MEN". 

Congress in the San Francisco district, he removed to Oregon, and was elected 
a United States Senator for the term expiring March 4th, 1865. He also stumped 
the state vigorously for Lincoln in the presidential campaign of that year, and, 
in consequence of divisions among the Democrats, secured the electoral vote of 
Oregon for the Eepublicau candidate. His eloquent voice \Yas first heard in the 
Senate-chamber in the eventful session of 1860-'61 ; and his speech in reply to 
Senator Benjamin, of Louisiana, .showed the quality of his genius. "Perhaps," 
said Senator Sumner, in his eulogy on Colonel Baker, delivered in the Senate on 
December 10th, 1861, "the argument against the sophiem of secession was never 
better arranged and combined, or more simply popularized for the general appre- 
hension. That speech at once passed into the permanent litei-ature of tlic coun- 
try, while it gave tw its author an assured positi<jn in this body. On another 
occasion, he had a parliamentary contest with Senator Breckeiu'idge, not then 
expelled from his seat, "meeting the polished traitor c\-erywhere with weapons 
keener and Ijrighter than his own.'" 

The outbreak of the Rebellion found Colonel Baker no lukewarm friend of 
the Union. He threw himself, heart and soul, into the contest ; and at the great 
Union mass meeting held in New York after the fall of Fort Sumter, his kindling 
eloquence stirred tlio multitude like the sound of a trunqjet. "It may cost us 
seven thousand five hundred lives to crush this rebellion," he said ; " it may be 
seventy-five thousand lives; it may be seven hundred and fifty thousand. What 
then? We have them ! The blood of every loyal citizen of this govei'jmient is 
dear to me ; my sons and theii's — young men grown \qj lieneath my eye and care 
— are here ; they are all dear to me ; but if the organization, the destiny, the 
renown, the glory, freedom of a constitutional government, the only hope of a 
free people demand it, let them all go !"' 

Colonel Baker imiuediately recruited, chiefly in New York and Philadelpliia, 
a regiment of three years' volunteers, which, in grateful remembrance of tlie state 
where he had passed the last ten years of his life, he called the first Caliibrnia 
resinient. With this he took the field during the summer of 1861, still retaining 
his seat in the Senate, and holding under consideration the offer of a brigadier- 
generalship, and subsequently of a major-generalship, tendered him by the Presi- 
dent; neither of which he was willing to accept, if it should prove incompatible 
with his legislative functicnis. 

Tlie autumn found Colonel Baker stationed with his regiment on the upper 
Potomac, near Edward.s's Ferry, and within the dei)artment commanded by Gen- 
eral Stone. On the 21st of October, in obedience to orders from that officer, he 
led a battalion of his regiment across the river, at Conrad's Ferry, to Ball's Bluff, 
on the Virginia shore, for the jnirpose of supporting reconnoissances made above 
and below under the general direction of Stone. Here he assumed command of 



EDWARD D. BAKER. 229 

all the national troops, about twenty-one hundred in number, which had effected 
a landing. The butchery of that devoted band, surrounded by an unseen and 
numerous enemy, is more familiar to the public than the causes which brought 
about the catastrophe, and which perhaps will never be known. In the midst 
of imminent danger, Colonel Baker was courageous and collected ; and althovigh 
impressed with a presentiment, which he had expressed on previous occasions, 
that he should meet his death during this campaign, he spared no effort to en- 
courage his men. At length the enemy showed a disposition to leave their cover 
in the woods. Colonel Baker ordered his thinned ranks to charge them, and, 
while cheering on his men, fell pierced by nine bullets. He expired instantly, 
dying as his generous and self-sacrificing spirit could have wished — 

" In some good cause, not his own, 

And like a warrior overthrown 

Whose eves are dim with glorious tears 
Wlien, soiled with noble dust, he hears 
His country's war-song thrill his earsl" 

His body was recovered, and, after being honored by imposing funeral ceremo- 
nies in "Washington and New York, was conveyed to San Francisco for inter- 
ment. The public mourning along the Pacific sea-board, where he was best 
known and appreciated, is a sufficient evidence of the regard he had inspired in 
the hearts of his countrymen. 





f'AP^ CHARL.F.5 MUCES V SK 



^ 



CHAELES WILKES. 

CHARLES WILKES was bora in New York city, in 1801, entered the navy 
as midshipman in 1818. and during the next two years cruised under Com- 
modore McDonougli in the Mediterranean. He was then sent to the Pacific sta- 
tion witli Commodore Stewart, under whom he obtained the command of a tender ; 
and in 1830 was placed in charge of the depot of charts and instruments at Wash- 
ington. Tliis was long before the establishment of the National Observatory, or 
indeed of any building of the kind, in the United States; and Lieutenant Wilkes has 
the honor of being the first in the L'nited States to make observations with fixed 
astronomical instruments — unless his claim be disputed by Yale College, where 
a telescope was erected the same year. His instruments wei'e niountcil on stone 
piers, in his own garden ; and such was the opposition at that time to any thing 
like a national observatory, that he was not permitted to enclose them by a per- 
manent structure. 

The ability with which Lieutenant Wilkes discharged the duties of this post, 
and his services in the surveys of Newport harbor and of George's Bank, raised 
him so high in the opinion of his superior officers, that in the spring of 1838 he 
was appointed to organize and command a government Exploring Expedition 
arovmd the world ; the first of the kind that ever left these shores. The vessels 
consisted of the sloops-of-war Vincennes and Peacock, brig Porpoise, storeship 
Relief, and tenders Sea-Gull and Flying-Fish. 

On the 18th of August, 1838, they sailed from Hampton Roads for Madeira, 
and thence by way of Cape Yerde Islands and Rio de Janeii'o to Orange harbor, 
Teri-.i del Fuego, where the whole squadron was at anchor by the month of Feb- 
ruarv, 1839. The Yincennes was left here, while Lieutenant Wilkes with the 
other vessels set out on a cruise to the antarctic region. Little was accomplished, 
owing to the lateness of the season, and the lack of proper eqxiipments. In the 
latter part of May, the Yincennes, Peacock, Porpoise, and Flying-Fish, were to- 
gether in Yalparaiso harbor, waiting in vain for the arrival of the Sea-Gull. She 
was last seen in a gale on the 28th of 2\pril, and since that time nothing has been 
heard from the gallant little vessel or her seventeen officers and men. A visit to 
Callao (whence the storeship Relief proving from her bad sailing-qualities more 
of a hinderance than a help, was sent home) gave the officers of the expedition 



232 NOTABLE MEN. 

an opportunity to replenish their stores ; and in July they crossed over to the 
Paumotee Group, or Cloud of Islands- — Tahiti, Upolu, the Samoan Islands, and 
New South Wales. At Tahiti they had hardly cast anchor, before the principal 
chiefs crowded around them in boats to solicit the washing of the white men"s 
dii-ty linen — a business which proved to be one of the prerogatives of the queen 
and the highest nobility. 

On the 26th of December, leaving Sytlney, they spread sail for another visit 
to the unknown Southern Polar Seas, and on the 16th of Januaiy, 1840, discov- 
ered the great Antarctic Continent, whose existence had hitherto not even been 
suspected. Lieutenant Wilkes himself received the discovery with doubt and 
hesitation, and did not venture to record it in his j(nirnal until three days after 
his most experienced officers were fully assured of its reality. Both French and 
English navigators soon afterward confirmed it Until the end of the month the 
little squadron coasted along the icy shore of this new-found continent, exposed 
to the most fearful dangers, and driven liy fierce gales through clusters of ice- 
bergs, while the snow fell so fast and thick, that they could see but a few yards 
ahead. On the night of the 28th, " we were swiftly dashing on," writes Lieu- 
tenant Wilkes, " for I felt it necessary- to keep the ship under rapid way through 
the water, to enable her to steer and work quickly. Suddenly many voices cried 
out, ' Ice ahead !' then, ' On the weather-bow !' and again, ' On the lee-bow and 
abeam !' All hope of escape seemed in a moment to vanish ; return we could 
not, as large ice-islands had just been passed to leeward ; so we dashed on, ex- 
pecting every moment the crash. The ship, in an instant, from having her lee- 
guns under water, rose upright ; and so close were w(^ passing to leeward of one 
of these huge islands, that our trysails were almost thrown aback hy the eddy 

wind As we proceeded, a glimmering of hoj^e arose, for we accidentally 

had hit upon a clear passage between two large ice-islands, which in fine weather 
we should not dare to have ventured through. The suspense endured while 
making our way between them was intense, but of short duration ; and my spirits 
rose as I heard the whistling of the gale grow louder and louder before us, as we 
emerged from the passage. We had escaped an awful death, and were again 
tempest-tossed.'' 

During tlie ensuing summer, the squadron found constant occupation in 
visiting and exploring New Zealand, the Friendly Isles, and the Feejee Group; 
in the last of which a tragical affair occurred during the latter part of July, at 
the island of Malolo, where Lieutenant L'nderwood and Midshipman Wilkes 
Henry, the commander's nephew, were murdered b^^ the natives. Lieutenant 
Wilkes determined to punish this outrage with exemplary severity. There were 
two towns. Sualib and Arro, situated upon opposite sides of the island. A force 
of seventy officers and men, under the command of Lieutenant Cadwalader Eing- 



CHARLES \\' I L K E S . 



233 



gold, was sent to destroy them both, wliile Lieutenant Wilkes remained with a 
boat-party to cut off the escape of the natives, and protect the ships. Arro was 
burned with little difficulty, but Sualib was strongly fortified with ditches, a 
palisade, and a parapet of earth ; and here the savages prepared for a stubborn 
resistance. Men, women, and children, took part in the defence, darting spears 
and arrows, and opening a fire of musketry, which did little damage — partly, no 
doubt, in consequence of their practice of putting charges into thoir guns in pro- 
portion to the size of the person at whom they intend to shoot. A rocket at last 
struck the thatched roof of one of the houses, and in a moment the whole town 
was in a blaze. In an hour nothing was left of Sualib but a heap of ashes. The 
Americans now drew ofi' to the ships, bearing a number of prisoners, and leaving 
fifty-seven of the Feejeeans dead or mortally wounded. On their own side, not 
a life was lost. The next day they landed again, for the purpose of receiving 
the submission of the natives. " Toward four o'clock," says Lieutenant Wilkes, 
" the sound of distant wailings was heard, which gradually drew nearer and 
nearer. At the same time the natives were seen passing over the hills toward 
us, giving an effect to the whole scene which will long be borne in my memory. 
They at length reached the foot of the hill, but would come no farther, until 
assured that their submission would be received. On receiving this assui-ance, 
they wound upward, and in a short time about forty men appeared, crouching 
on their hands and knees, and occasionally stopping to utter piteous moans and 
wailings. When within thirty feet of us, they stopped ; and an old man, their 
leader, in the most piteous manner begged pardon." 

After a survey of various other islands in the Pacific, and a toilsome expe- 
dition to the summit of the volcano of Mouna Loa, in Hawaii, Lieutenant Wilkes 
crossed over to the western shore of North America, made some interesting ex- 
plorations in California and Oregon, and then sailed for Singapore, whence on 
the 26th of February, 1842, the squadron got undei- way for their homeward 
voyage. On the 10th of June, they anchored in New York harbor. 

Lieutenant Wilkes was almost immediately rewarded by his promotion to 
the rank of commander ; but notwithstanding the valuable results of the expe- 
dition, and the effective manner in which with very inadequate means he had 
carried out his instructions, his conduct during the four years' cruise did not 
pass imqiiestioned. Li August, he was arraigned before a naval court-martial, 
on board the North Carolina, at New York, on eleven charges, and, after a trial 
of three weeks, was acquitted of all except a technical violation of the laws of 
the navy, in the punishment of certain deserters from his squadron. For this, in 
which there can be little question that he was perfectly excusable, he was sen- 
tenced to u reprimand. He was now employed for several years in preparing for 
the press his "Narrative of the United States Exploring Expedition," which 

40 



234 NOTABLE MEX. 

appeared in 1845 ; aud in 1849, he published an account of his observations in 
California and Oregon, under the title of "Western America" In 1855, he was 
promoted to the rank of captain. 

He was engaged in no other important sea-ser\"ice until 1861, when he was 
ordered to the West Indies, in the steam-frigate San Jacinto, to look after the 
privateer Sumter. Touching at Cienfuegos, on the island of Cuba, he there 
learned that Messrs. James M. Mason and John Slidell, the rebel commissioners 
to England and France, had escaped from Charleston on the steamer Theodora, 
and were then at Havana, with their families and suites, preparing to embark for 
England. Captain Wilkes at once went in pursuit of the Theodora, but, failing 
to come up with her, ran to the eastward, to the narrowest part of the Bahama 
Channel, for the purpose of intercepting the British mail-steamer Trent, on which 
the confederate emissaries had taken passage. On the 8th of November the Trent 
hove in sight. The San Jacinto beat to quarters, two boats were manned and 
armed, the guns were brought to bear npon the steamer, and, as she approached, 
a shot and then a shell were iii-ed across her bow. As soon as she hove to. Lieu- 
tenant Fairfax boarded her, and demanded the surrender of Messrs. Mason and 
Slidell, and their secretaries, McFarland and Eustis. The demand was refused ; 
but the gentlemen in question were recognized, and, after a faint show of resist- 
ance, were brought off by force. Captain Wilkes at once proceeded to Hampton 
Eoads, and there received orders to refit at Charlestown, and transfer his prison- 
ers to Fort Warren, in Boston harbor. His prompt aud decisive action awakened 
the liveliest popular enthusiasm. He was honored with a pubUc banquet in Bos- 
ton, and the secretary of the navy, in his next official report, wannly commended 
his conduct ; but the President subsequently disavowed the seizure, on account 
of informality, and surrendered Messrs, Slidell and Mason at the demand of the 
British government 

When the navy was reorganized in the summer of 1862, Captain Wilkes was 
placed first on the list of commodores, and about the same time was assigned to 
the command of the gunboat flotilla in the James River. Shortly afterward, he 
was appointed acting rear-admiral, and sent to the West Indies in command of 
a squadron, to protect American commerce. 

Commodore Wilkes is a member of the American Association for the Ad- 
vancement of Science, before which he read in 1855 a paper on the " Theory of 
the Winds," which was published the next year ; and is the author of the volume 
on Meteorology, in the series forming the elaborate ofiicial report of his Exploring 
Expedition. In 1848, he received the gold medal of the London Geographical 
Society. 




^'VGtaE Penne.5^ - 



MAJ. GEN". JOHX POPE. U.. S. A. 



JOHN POPE. 

JOHN POPE was born in the state of Kentucky, March 12tli, 1823. His 
father, Governor Nathaniel Pope, of Virginia, emigrated to Kentucky in the 
early part- of the present century, and, during the infancy of his son, removed 
with his family to Kaskaskia, Illinois. He was a delegate to Congress from 
Illinois before its organization as a state, and was subsequently for many vears 
United States district judge, an office which he filled with eminent ability and 
fidelity. After receiving a careful preliminary education, young Pope was ad- 
mitted in 1838 a cadet in the West Point military academy, where he was grad- 
uated in 1842, standing high in a class which numbered among its members 
Generals Rosecrans and Doubleday of the Union army, and the rebel Generals 
Gustavus W. Smith, Lovell, Longstreet, Van Dorn, and others. In July of the 
same year he was commissioned brevet second-lieutenant in the corps of topo- 
graphical engineers. Upon the breaking out of the Avar with Mexico, he was 
attached to the army under General Taylor, and for " gallant and meritorious" 
conduct at the battle of Monterey was breveted a first-lieutenant, his commission 
bearing date September 23d, 1846. For " highly gallant and meritorious con- 
duct" on the hard-fought field of Buena Vista he was breveted a captain, his 
commission being dated February 23d, 1847 ; and at the conclusion of the war, 
the state of Illinois testified its sense of the importance of his services by pre- 
senting liini with a sword. 

Thenceforth for many years Captain Pope was chiefly employed, in common 
with other officers of engineers, on the surveying and exploring expeditions which 
have opened to travel and emigration the vast and comparatively unknown re- 
gions lying between the valley of the Mississippi and the Pacific Ocean. In 
1849, he conducted an expedition into the northern portions of Minnesota, and 
demonstrated the practicability of navigating the Red River of the North with 
steamers, for which service he received a vote of thanks from the territorial 
legislature. 

After several years' service in New Mexico, Captain Fope was, in 1853, ap- 
pointed to command one of the six expeditions organized by the war department, 
under an act of Congress, to ascertain the most practicable route for a railroad 
from the Mississippi to the Pacific, and was directed to explore the thirty-second 



236 NOTABLE MEN. 

parallel from Eecl Eiver to the Rio Grande. His sui-vey, completed in the sum- 
mer of 1854', was stated by Jefferson Davis, then secretaiy of war, to have been 
'"creditably jierformed under the most disadvantageous circumstances." In con- 
nection with this enterprise he explored, in 1855-56, the Llano Estacado, or 
Staked Plain, in Texas and New Mexico, and made some experiments in Arte- 
sian-well boi'ing, with a view to determine the feasibility of obtaining a supply 
of water for railroad or otlier purposes. In July, IBofi, he was advanced to the 
full rank of captain, and during the next three years his time was principally 
occupied with engineering duties in the Western military department. 

Obtaining a leave of absence for the year 1860, Captain Pope entered zeal- 
ously into tlie presidential canvass, and was a warm supporter of Mr. Lincoln. 
When the clouds of civil war began to gather on the horizon, he was not liack- 
ward to proclaim the necessity of vigorous measui-es on the part of the govern- 
ment to maintain the integrity of the Union ; expressing opinions which, if 
contrary to the cticpu-tte of the service, as understood b}- some members of his 
profession, were nevertheless eminently j)atriotic, and, amid the positive defection 
of many of the regular army officers and the apparent lukewarmness of others, 
were gratefully received by the peojile of the loyal states. For some severe stric- 
tures on the temporizing policy of President Buchanan, to which he gave utter- 
ance in a lecture on fortifications, delivered in Cincinnati, in February, 1861, he 
was court-martiallcd by order of the President ; but by the advice of Mr. Holt, 
secretary of war, the matter was dropped, the government having matters of 
graver import to occupy its attention. Captain Pope accordingly resumed his 
command in the engineer corps, and was one of the officers detailed by the war 
department to escort President Lincoln to Washington. 

On May 3d, 1861, the President issued a call for forty-two thousand volun- 
teers to serve for three years or the war; and on the 17th of the month. Captain 
Pope was commissioned a brigadier-general in that force, and appointed to a 
command in Northern Missouri, then swarming with secession sympathizers, 
who, at the instigation of the traitor governor, Jackson, were obstructing railroad 
travel, and committing depredations on private property. Ou July 19th, he 
issued a proclamation to the people of North Mis.souri, warning them against 
unlawful comliinations. and during the next few weeks prosecuted a vigorous 
war against bridge-l>urncrs and guerillas, who soon discovered that General 
Pojje's department was no place for their operations. After the arrival of Gen- 
eral Halleck at St. Louis, in November, as commander-in-chief of the Western 
department. General Pope was detailed to active duty in Central Missouri ; and 
on December 13th, in co-operation with General Jefferaon C. Davis, he surprised 
and captured at Blackwater nearly two thousand rebel recruits for Price s armv. 
Then, marching rapidly upon Shawnee Mound, he succeeded in the brief space 



JOHN POPE. 237 

often days in driving tlie rebel forces comjDletely out ofthi.it part of the country. 
These services, widely and gratefully acknowledged by the public, suggested 
him to General Halleck as a competent officer to command the army of the Mis- 
sissippi, destined to co-operate, with the opening of the spring, in the general 
movement of the Western troops against the enemy. 

On the 23d of February, 1862, General Pope assumed command of a well- 
appointed army at Commerce, Missouri, and a few days later marched upon New 
Madrid, where a force of ten thousand rebels, under General Jefterson Thompson, 
was intrenched in a strong position, defended by many heavy guns, and covered 
by a fleet of gunboats. During a delay occasioned by the failure to receive his 
siege-guns from Cairo, he dispatched a portion of his force to Point Pleasant, 
twelve miles below New Madrid, thus establishing an efficient blockade of the 
Mississippi, and preventing the arrival of supplies to the rebels from below. At 
sunset, on the 12th of March, the siege-guns arrived; on the same night they 
were placed in battery, within eight hundred yards of the enemy's main work; 
and at daylight, on the 13th, a heavy fire was opened. The enemy withstood 
the attack during the day, but on the night of the 13th precipitately abandoned 
tlieir works, and took refuge on the other side of the river, leaving upward of 
sixty guns, several thousand small-arms, and equipments, stores, and munitions, 
of the value of nearly a million of dollars. 

The rebels, however, still occupied Island Number Ten, commanding tlie 
river above New Madrid ; and General Pope, being without the means of trans- 
j)orting his troops to the Kentucky shore, could not immediately pursue his 
advantage. On the 17th, Flag-Officer Foote, with his flotilla of gunboats and 
mortar-boats, opened fire upon Island Number Ten from above ; but the work 
proving of far greater strength than he had anticipated, it became evident that, 
without the assistance of a land-force, operating on the other side of the river, the 
siege might he protracted for months. But General Pope had no transports, to 
cross the river below the island ; and the inundated state of the countrj' rendered 
it difficult, if not impossible, to march his troops to the vicinity of the flotilla. 
Availing himself, in this emergency, of the suggestion of General Schuyler Ham- 
ilton, one of his generals of division, he ordered a canal twelve miles long to be 
cut across the neck of land formed by a bend in the river opposite the island, 
with a view of floating transports down it to his assistance. The work was com- 
pleted within three weeks, and on the 7th of April a number of transports and 
gunboats passed through. The embarkation of troops at New Madrid was com- 
menced on the same day, and on the evening of the 9th nine thousand Union 
soldiers were landed on the Kentucky shore. The enemy at once surrendered ■ 
their costly works on Island Number Ten, with an immense amount of material 
of war; and Pope, pushing on a division, under General Paine, to Tiptonville, 



238 NOTABLE ME. v. 

succeeded in capturing upward of five thousaud retreating rebels, including three 
generals, seven colonels, and several hundred inferior officers, together with an 
immense amount of spoils. For tliese successes he was promoted to be a major- 
general, his commission dating from March 21st. 

Flushed with victory, and with the applause of the country ringing in his 
ears, General Pope proceeded down the Mississippi, to attack Fort Pillow, but 
was arrested iii liis course by an order from General Halleck, directing him to 
repair with his troops to Pittsburg Landing. Within five days after receiving 
the order, his entire force was at Hamburg, four miles from Pittsburg, occupying 
a position on the extreme left of the Union line. He received the command of 
one of the three grand divisions into which General Halleck divided his army, 
and showed characteristic activity in the sharj) actions which preceded the with- 
drawal of the enemy into his defensive works at Corinth ; succeeding on one 
occasion, by a brilliant piece of strategy, in capturing a considerable number of 
prisoners. After the evacuation of Corinth, on May 30th, he pursued the retreat- 
ing army under General Beauregard down the Mobile railroad, securing many 
prisoners and large quantities of munitions ; and while engaged in this duty, he 
was summoned by the President to Washington, and appointed to the command 
of the "army of Virginia," comprising the combined corj)s of Generals Fremont, 
Banks, and McDowell, then stationed along the Potomac, and in front of Wash- 
ington. These officers were all his seniors in rank, but, in the opinion of the 
President, the exigenoies of the service demanded that he should be placed over 
them. 

Before General Pope could commence the organization of his command, the 
series of reverses before Richmond, consequent upon General McClellan's trans- 
ferring his base of operations to the James River, brought dismay to the govern- 
ment and people, and rendered necessary an entire change in the plans of the 
campaign. On the 1-ith of July, the new general issued an address to his troops, 
breathing the most ardent spirit of enterprise ; and on the 29th — the President 
having in the mean time decided to remove the army of McClellan from the pen- 
insula — he took the field in person, establishing his head-quarters at Warrenton, 
Virginia. As the readiest means of diverting the attention of the enemy from 
McClellan, Pope was ordered to make a demonstration in force upon Richmond ; 
and immediately a forward movement, which had been preceded by several dash- 
ing cavalry reconnoissanccs, was commenced by his whole army. Reconnoitring 
parties crossed the Rapidan River, and pushed forward to Orange Court-House 
and other points ; and on August 9th, the cor})S of General Banks fought a well- 
• contested battle with the rebels under Jackson at Cedar Mountain. The latter 
fell back on the 11th, and Po])e immediately brought his whole force up to the 
line of the Raj^idan. Under cover of these movements, the army of McClellan 



JOHN POPE. 239 

evacuated its position at Harrison's Landing on the 14th and 15th, without mo- 
lestation, and the enemy at once prepared to fall upon and crvish Pope before 
reinforcements could reach him. 

On the 17th and 18th, Pope withdrew his whole army behind the Eappa- 
hannock, and, being in too feeble force to defend that line, subsequently fell back 
as far as Warrenton, in the expectation that a portion of McClellan's troops would 
meet him there, or bo within supporting distance. A rebel cordis under Jackson 
meanwhile made a flank movement on Pojje's right, and, passing through Tlior- 
oughfare Gap, took possession of the old defensive works at Manassas, which 
Pope supposed had been occu2:)ied, in accordance with his orders, by two divisions 
of McClellan's army. The contrary proving to be the case. Pope marched rapidly 
in three columns toward Manassas; and on the 28th, 29th, and 30th, a series of 
desperate battles was fought, resulting in the discomfiture of the federal forces, 
who retired across Bull Run to the strong position of Centreville. The advan- 
tage on the 28th and 29th rested with the federal troops ; and General Pope has 
asserted, in his ofiicial dispatch, that if General Fitz John Porter had attacked 
the enemy in flank on the latter day, as he had been ordered to do, Jackson 
would have been iitterly routed before the rebel reinforcements under Lee coidd 
reach him. On the evening of that day the junction of the enemy's forces was 
effected, and the defetit of Pope, confronted on the 30th by superior numbers, was 
the consequence. The army subsequently retired in good order to Washington ; 
and on September 3d, General Pope was at his own rec|uest relieved of his com- 
mand — halving first, in a well-written dispatch, stated what he claimed to have 
been the obstacles to his success. He also preferred charges of insubordination 
against three of McClellan's generals, and demanded a court of inquiry, which 
was granted. At the special request of General McClellan, proceedings were 
stayed ; and the puljlic are accordingly for the present unable to form a correct 
judgment with regard to the facts connected witli the late battles before "Wash- 
ington, and tlie motives of the principal actors in them. 

General Pope was immediately assigned to the command of the department 
of the North-west, where he is now engaged in protecting the inhabitants from 
threatened attacks of tlie Indian tribes. 




-^Ji&--' iy uea.-E.PeTitve 



C, 



/ 7 2 /;/n^/ ,^i_:> 



■HAM, U.S.H, 



TJEW TO?: 



SILAS HOETON STEIITGHAM. 

WE have never had occasion to feel the blush of shame tingle our cheeks 
when reference was made to our American navj-. From that daring 
series of exploits, which made the name of John Paul Jones immortal ; through 
all the years of the War of 1812-1815, when the cross of St. George was so often 
corapulsorily lowered before the Stars and Stripes, that British tars found small 
comfort in singing " Britannia rules the Waves ;" alike on the Atlantic, Pacific, 
and Indian Oceans, the Arctic and the Antarctic Seas, the gallant officers of our 
navy have maintained its fair fame and prowess against all comers. Among 
those to whom the nation's flag has been thus intrusted, and who have main- 
tained it in unsullied purity, is the subject of this memoir. 

Silas Horton Stringham is a native of New York, having been born in 
Middletown, Orange county, on the 7th of November, 1798. He entered the 
navy as a midshipman in his thirteenth year, and was ordered, immediately on 
receiving his commission, to the frigate President, Commodore John Rodgers, 
then lying in Hampton Roads. 

There were already signs of the coming storm ; and for the next four years, 
during which he was attached to the President, the young midshipman found 
naval life no holiday sport. On the 16th of May, 1811, occurred that memoral)le 
fight between the President and the English corvette Little Belt, which was one 
of the immediate causes of the War of 1812. The chastisement which the Eng- 
lish vessel received, and which caused such exasperation on the part of the British 
government, though but a just return for the unwarrantable insolence displayed 
by British officers in tlie case of the Chesapeake, was, as the event proved, the 
result of a misunderstanding. The President had also a running fight in June, 
1812, with the Belvidere, a British frigate ; but the enemy was fleeter than the 
President, and made her escape. In 181-4, the President was transferred to Com- 
modore Decatur, and young Stringham with the rest of the oflicers was assigned 
to the Guerriere, on which he served for a year, when he was ordered to the 
brig Spark, one of the vessels of Commodore Decatur's Algerine squadron. The 
Spark did not long remain in the Mediterranean. After convoying two prizes to 
Algiers, she joined Commodore Bainbridge's squadron, and returned with it to 
the United States in November, 181n. 
-41 



242 NOTABLE MEN. 

The Spark returned to the Mediterranean the ensuing spring, but of lier 
former officers all except Striiigham were transferred to other ships. The morn- 
ing after their arrival at Gibraltar, a heavy south-east gale sprung up, and a 
French brig, coming into the harbor, caj^sized. Captain Gamble, of the Spark, 
immediately called for volunteers to go to the help of the perishing crew and 
passengers of the French vessel. Young Stringham was the first to volunteer, 
and lowering a small boat, with six seamen, started on his perilous excursion. 
He reached the brig in safety, and succeeded in rescuing five persons from her; 
but the gale being so severe as to render their return to the Spark impossible, the 
boat was headed for the Algesiras shore, but before reaching it was capsized, and 
one of his own crew and two of the rescued Frenchmen were drowned ; the rest 
succeeded in swimming to land. On board tlie Spark it was believed that all 
were drowned, and the flag at half-mast, and the minute-guns fired in honor of 
the supposed deceased, indicated the sorrow of their comrades at their loss ; but 
on the sul)sidencc of the storm, they regained their vessel, where they were re- 
ceived with hearty welcome. 

In 1817, Lieutenant Stringham was transferred to the sloop-of-war Erie, 
and in the fall of 1818, to the Peacock, which soon afterward returned to the 
United States. After a few months at home, he was ordered to the Cyane 
sloop-of-war, in the autumn of 1819. The first duty assigned to the Cyane, after 
he joined her, was the convoying of the ship Elizabeth, which carried to the 
African coast the first settlers to the future rejaublic of Liberia. After their 
arrival on the coast, and while stationed off the Gallinas River, each lieutenant 
was put in command of a lioat, to board a number of vessels supposed to be 
slavers. Lieutenant Stringham captured two — the Endymion, of Baltimore, and 
the Esperanza, a Spanish vessel ; and, obtaining permission from his commander, 
took one of these vessels and captured two schooners, the Plattsburg and the 
Science, also engaged in the slave-trade. He was then made j)rize-commodore, 
and brought his four prizes to New York, where they were condemned. 

In 1821, he was ordered to the Hornet, as first-lieutenant, and assigned to 
the West India station; and during his service on that station, the Hornet cap- 
tured a notorious pirate-ship and a slaver. The former was sent to Norfolk, and 
the latter to New Orleans, for condemnation. In 1822, Lieutenant Stringham 
returned to New York, and in the autumn of the next year was ordered to the 
Cyane, as first-lieutenant, under Commodore Creighton. In the spring of 1824-, 
the Cyane took the American minister to France to his destination, and then 
joined the Mediterranean squadron, of which she fomaed a part till the autumn 
of 1825. There was no opportunity during this cruise for the display of the 
courage which is exhibited on the battle-field or in the horrors of a sea-fight; 
but the young lieutenant showed a higher and nobler courage, by leaping into 



SILAS HORTOX STPwINGHAM. 243 

tlic sea ami saving two men wLo had fallen ovei'board, and were in imminent 
danger of drowning. 

The next four years were spent at the Brooklyn navy-yard, where ho was 
actively engaged in fitting out war-vessels. In 1829, he was assigned to the 
Peacock, sent on the sad duty of searching for the missing sloop-of-war Hornet, 
on board of which he had fonnerly been an officer. She was supposed to have 
been lost near Tampico, in the Gulf of Mexico, but the most careful search failed 
to discover any traces of her. After some time spent in this search. Lieutenant 
Stringham was appointed by Commodore Elliott to the command of the Fal- 
mouth, and ordered to Carthagena. The Falmouth returned to New York in 
1830. 

The next five years -were spent by Lieutenant Stringham in shore-service, 
and in 1885 he was oi'dered to the command of the sloop-of-war John Adams, 
then in the Mediterranean squadron. While in this squadron, his vessel being- 
stationed at Malaga, he saved the Orestes, an English man-of-war, fi-om being 
wrecked in the harbor, and rendered valuable assistance both to her and her 
consoi't, which was also seriously crippled. Having taken their mails and part 
of their stores to Barcelona, he was there instrumental in assisting a third English 
man-of-war, which had gone ashore near that city. 

In 1837, Lieutenant Stringham returned to New York, and was immediately 
appointed second in command at the Brooklyn navy -yard ; and with the excep- 
tion of a cruise in the brig Porpoise, to look for the " long, low^, black schooner," 
whose appearance had excited so much alarm in the mercantile marine, he re- 
mained attached to the navy-yard till 1842. In 1841, he was one of the board 
appointed to test the merits of the Stevens elongated shell. In 1842, he was 
ordered to the i-azee Independence ; and, in the spring of 1843, appointed com- 
mander of the Brooklyn navy-yard, where he remained till 1846. 

The commencement of the Mexican War called him at once into active 
service. He was ordered to the Ohio ship-of-the-liue, and sailed from Boston for 
Vera Cruz, stopping at Hampton Roads on his way. He took an active part in 
the bombardment of the fortress of San Juan de Ulloa. After the reduction of 
the fort, the Ohio was ordered to return to New York, and on her w:ay called 
at Havana, being the first American ship-of-the-liue which had ever entered 
that port. 

On his return to New York, Captain Stringham received Honorable David 
Tod (now governor of Ohio), the minister to Brazil, on board his ship, and pro- 
ceeded at once to Rio Janeiro, where he was put in command of the squadron, 
and, when relieved by the arrival of Commodore Storer, returned to New York. 
In 1851, he was made commander of the Norfolk navy -yard, and in April, 1852, 
assigned to the command of the Mediterranean squadron, and hoisted his flag, as 



-44 NOTABLE SIEX. 

commodore, on the Cumberland frigate. He remained in command of the squad- 
ron till July, 1855, when he returned to the United States, and was assigned to 
the command of the Charlestown navy-yard, which he held till May, 1859. In 
March, 1861, he was ordered to Washington, as a member of a naval court- 
martial, and on special duty, and while there was appointed flag-officer of the 
Atlantic blockading squadron, and ordered to the Minnesota as his flag-ship. In 
May, this squadron was divided, and his craising-ground extended from Key 
West to the Chesapeake Ba^-. 

In the summer of 1861, Commodore Stringham was honored with the prepa- 
ration of the first of those combined naval and military expeditions which have 
crowned the American mivj with such glory ; and in his case, as in most of the 
others, the success has been almost exclusively due to the action of the navy. On 
the 26th of August, the fleet, consisting of the Minnesota, Captain Van Brunt ; the 
Wabash, Captain Mercer ; the Montieello. Commander Gillis ; the Pawnee, Com- 
mander Rowan ; and the Harriet Lane, Captain Faunce, sailed from Hampton 
Roads for Hatteras Inlet. The Susquehanna steam-frigate and the Cumberland 
sailing-frigate were ordered also to join the expedition, which they did the next 
day. There were also a number of chartered steamers, transports, &c., which 
carried the troops intended to take pai-t in tlie expedition. About four o'clock, 
P. II., on Tuesday, August 27th, the fleet arrived off Hatteras Inlet, where were 
two forts — Fort Hatteras, mounting ten cannon, and Fort Clark, mounting five — 
the two manned by about seven hundred confederate troops, under the com- 
mand of Samuel F. Barron, foi-merly a captain in the United States navy, but 
at that time acting secretary of the navy of the confederate states, assisted by a 
colonel and major of the " Confederate Volunteers." 

At daylight, on the morning of the 28th of August, the arrangements were 
made for an attack upon the forts, and the bombardment of Fort Clark was con- 
tinued till half-past one P. M., when both forts hauled down their flags, and the 
garrison of Fort Clark escaped to Fort Hatteras. The fleet ceased firing, and 
the Montieello was sent into the inlet, to discover whether the forts intended to 
surrender. When she had approached within six hundred yards of Fort Hatte- 
ras, the occupants of that fort commenced firing upon her, and inflicted serious 
injuries upon her hull. Perceiving this, Flag-Ofiicer Stringham came to her 
assistance with the Wabash, Susquehanna, and Minnesota, and soon drove the 
garrison into their bomb-proof, and compelled them to cease firing. The next 
morning, at eight o'clock, the fleet renewed its fire upon Fort Hatteras, dropjjing 
almost every shell from their hea'vy guns inside the fort. At ten minutes past 
eleven, a white flag was displayed from the fort ; and the preliminaries having 
been agreed upon, the garrison, consisting of seven hundred and fifteen men, sur- 
rendered to Flag-Officer Stringham and General Benjamin F. Butler, who com- 



SILAS HORTON STRIXGHxVM. 245 

inanded the land-forces. Besides the prisoners, the fruits of this victory were — 
the possession of two forts ; one thousand stand of arms ; seventy-five liegs of 
powder ; five stand of colors ; thirty-one cannon, including one ten-inch colum- 
biad ; a brig, loaded with cotton ; a sloop, laden with provisions and stores ; two 
light boats ; one hundred and fifty bags of coffee, &c. Not a man belonging to 
the fleet was killed. 

For this brilliant affair, Flag-Officer Stringham received the thanks of the 
government. On the 23d of September, 1861, he was, at his own request, re- 
lieved from his command. In August, 1862, he was made a rear-admiral, on the 
retired list, and in August and Sejitember was president of the naval commission 
to locate a new naw-yard. 







'--eo H,. X'er'.T-. 




'^>^l^^ 



MA. r^. H. FuOTE TJ.S K 



AlifDREW HULL FOOTE. 

ANDREW HULL FOOTE was born in New Haven, Connecticut, Septem- 
ber 12th, 1806. His flxther, Samuel A. Foote, well known in the political 
history of Connecticut in the early part of the present century, as a member of 
the legislature and govern<jr of the state, served also several terms in Congress; 
and was in 1830 the mover, in tlie United States Senate, of the resolution com- 
monly known as " Foote's resolution on the public lands," which gave rise to the 
celebrated debate between Daniel Webster and Robert Y. Hayne. 

Young Foote was intended by his parents for one of the learned professions, 
but exhibiting a strong inclination for a sea-life, he was allowed, in December, 
1822, to enter the navy as acting midshipman, and made his first cruise in the 
schooner Grampus, Commander Gregory, which formtid part of the squadron 
under Commodore Porter, dispatched in 1823 to the West Indies, to chastise the 
pirates who infested those waters and preyed upon American commerce. Hav- 
ing participated with credit in this dangerous service, he obtained a midshipman's 
warrant, and in 1824 joined the Pacific squadron under Commodore Hull. In 
1827, he passed his examination for passed-midshipman ; in 1830, he was com- 
missioned a lieutenant; and in 1833, he was ordered to join the Delaware, sev- 
enty-four, bearing the broad pennant of Commodore Patterson, as flag-lieutenant 
of the Mediterranean squadron. During his service on this station he visited 
every accessible place of historic interest, and with a party of brother-officers 
explored many parts of Egypt and the Holy Land, extending his journey to the 
Dead Sea and the adjacent regions. In 1838, he was ajjpointed flrstdieutenant 
of the sloop-of-war John Adams, in which he accompanied Commodore Read in 
his voyage of circumnavigation, participating in the attack upon the towns of 
Quallahbattoo and Abuckie, in the island of Sumatra, which had become a noted 
rendezvous of pirates; and rendering effectual service to the American mission 
aries at Honolulu, in obtaining the publication of their defence, and in supjjorting 
them against the false charges of the French commander, La Place. 

From 1841 until 1843, Lieutenant Foote was stationed at the Naval Asylum, 
in Philadelphia, where his efforts were beneficially directed to ameliorate and 
elevate the condition of the inmates. A consistent advocate, from his youth 
upward, of total abstinence from spirituous liquors, he had not failed during his 



248 NOTABLE MEX. 

exjicrience of sea-life to observe the demoralizing influence upon sailors of an 
habitual indulgence in drinking, even when it did not produce intoxication. 
Waiving for the time any notice of the plea, so frequently urged, that the severe 
labors and hardships imposed upon the sailor compel him to resort to grog as a 
stimulant (which he did not believe, his opinion being that " whiskey-rations are 
evil, and only evil, and that continually"), he maintained that the ease of the 
retired pensioner differed essentially from that of the sailor on active dutv, and 
that the former wotdd be happier and better withoiit his grog. "With admirable 
address, he prevailed upon many of the "old salts" under his charge to take the 
temperance pledge, and to the surprise of the incredulous carried out his predic- 
tions to the letter, the institution sho^^-ing a marked improvement in discipline 
and order during the period that lie was connected witli it. The reform thus 
commenced twenty years ago, by an earnest advocate of total abstinence, has 
since been extended to the entire service, and in the estimation of experienced 
persons will greatly raise the standard of its jxrsonnel. 

On his next cruise, which he made in the frigate Cumberland, in 1843-'45, 
as first-lieutenant, Foote tested his theory of the benefits of total abstinence upon 
a sea-going crew, whom he succeeded in persuading to give up their grog. The 
spirit-room was accordingly emptied of its contents; and the improvement in the 
moral as well as the physical condition of the men was perceptible in the high 
order of discipline soon attained, and which made the Cumberland a model ship. 
Nor did Lieutenant Foote stop here. Having established sobriety and order in 
the ship, he directed his attention to the religious instruction of the crew, and 
delivered weekly a Sunday lecture on the berth-deck, at which nearly two hun- 
dred of the men voluntarily attended. Many of them also took part in prayer- 
meetings which usually succeeded the lecture. 

Soon after returning home. Lieutenant Foote was ordered to the Charles- 
town navy -yard, where he discharged the duties of executive officer during the 
Mexican War, being prevented from participating in that struggle by a species 
of ophthalmia contracted in Egypt. In Oetol:)er, 18-i9, he was assigned to the 
command of the brig Perry, and ordered to join the American squadron under 
Commodore Gregory on the coast of Africa The suppression of the slave-trade 
was the special service assigned to him, and the British squadron cruising in the 
same waters found no more earnest or efficient co-operator. Several sla^■ers were 
captured and condemned ; and the trade was, in fact, broken up along a consid- 
erable portion of the coast — a result so satisfactory to the American government, 
that Lieutenant Foote received from the naval dejaartment an official recognition 
of his services. This compliment was doubly earned from the fact that, while 
engaging in every effort to ]>ut down the nefarious traffic in human flesh, he had 
rigidly kept in view, in his communications with the Bfitish authorities, tlie 



ANDREW H*tJLL FOOTE. 249 

great principle of the War of 1812, maintaining that " the deck of an American 
vessel under its flag is the territory of the United States, and that no other au- 
thority but that of the United States could ever be allowed to exercise jurisdic- 
tion over it.'' It is worthy of note also that during this cruise of two and a half 
years, not a drop of grog was served out to the crew, and not an officer or man 
was for any lengthened period on the sick-list (although the station is notoriously 
unhealthy), or was lost or disabled. Lieutenant Foote subsequently embodied 
his observations and reflections on this cruise in an interesting volume entitled 
" Africa and the American Flag," which contains a general survey of the African 
continent in its physical, historical, and social relations, with remarks on the 
progress of colonization and the blighting influence of the slave-trade. Eeturn- 
ing home in 1852, he was promoted to be a commander, and appointed executive 
officer at the Naval Asylum, at which post he remained about a year. 

His next important service was on the "Naval Eetiring Board,'' composed 
of fifteen of the most competent officers of the navy, to whom was assigned the 
ungracious task of reporting the names of those of their brother-officers who were 
incapacitated by age or other causes from discharging their duties, in order that 
their places might be filled by younger and better men. It may be doubted 
whether the government could have employed a more faithful or conscientious 
person in this service ; and the fact that President Pierce subsequently reinstated 
many officers whose incompetency had been reported by the board, in no resjiect 
affects the action of Commander Foote and his associates, who simply performed 
a duty imposed upon them by Congress. 

In 1856, he was placed in command of the sloop-of-war Portsmouth, and 
ordered to proceed to the China station. Arriving at Canton in October, just 
previous to the commencement of hostilities between the English and Chinese, 
he landed an ai-med force in the city for the protection of the American residents, 
whom, in view of the threatening aspect of affairs, he advised to remove their 
property. His boat, carrying the American flag at her stern, having been fired 
upon from the Canton barrier forts while he was engaged in this duty, he re- 
ceived, after urgent solicitation, permission from Commodore Armstrong, his 
commanding officer, to vindicate the honor of the flag by attack upon the'forts. 
The Levant was ordered to support the Portsmouth, but grounded in coming up 
the river, so that the latter vessel was compelled to bear the brunt of the attack 
alone. Anchoring under a heavy fire at the distance of four hundred and ninety 
yards from the nearest fort, she succeeded, in less than two and a half hours. 
in silencing all the forts, four in number; and on the next day, November 21st, 
in company with the Levant, she renewed the attack with great effect. A Ijreach 
having been made in the nearest fort, which was the strongest of all. Commander 
Foote landed with a force of two hundred and eighty sailors and marines, and 



250 NOTABLE MEN. 

carried the work by assault. Within the uext two days the remaining forts were 
stormed in the face of a galling fire from the enemy ; and ou the 2-ith, the Amer- 
ican flag waved over all of them. The forts were massive granite structures, with 
walls seven feet thick, mounting one hundred and seventy-six gnns, and were 
garrisoned by five thousand men, of whom ujjward of four hundred were killed 
and wounded. The American loss did not exceed forty. This gallant series of 
actions took place within sight of the British and French squadrons, and greatly 
enhanced the reputation of the American navy as a ready and efficient vindicator 
of the national flag. The foreign officers and correspondents of the English 
newspapers spoke in high praise of the conduct of Commander Foote and his 
men ; and as the Portsmouth and Levant dropped down the river past the British 
squadron, the admiral, Sir Michael Seymour, ordered the rigging of the ship to be 
manned, while the crew greeted the American vessels with loud cheers, and the 
band played '-Hail Columbia" and "Yankee Doodle.'" The effect of the capture 
of the foits was, to cause the American flag to be thenceforth respected by the 
Chinese, and to open the way for the treaty made in the succeeding year by Mr. 
Eeed. Commander Foote subsequently visited Japan and Siam. on important 
V)usiness in behalf of his government, and after a cruise of two years returned in 
June, 1858, to the United States. 

The outbreak of the Rebellion found Commander Foote stationed at the 
Brooklyn navy-yard as executive officer, in which capacity he aided in fitting out 
many vessels of the blockading squadron. In July, 1861, he received his cap- 
tain's commission; and in the September following he was appointed to succeed 
Commander Rodgers as flag-officer of the flotilla fitting out in the Western waters 
to co-operate with the land-forces in opposing the rebels in that part of the coun- 
try. The obstacles with which he had to contend in prosecitting this work were 
numerous and vexatious ; and in the absence of the means and appliances which 
are always at hand in the government ship-yards, he was obliged to tax his con- 
structive genius to the utmost in order to keep pace with the public expectation, 
working day and night with unflagging energy. "The most difficult and ardu- 
ous work of my life," he wrote to a friend several months afterward, " has been 
the improvising of the flotilla which, under God, has been so efficient in repress- 
ing rebellion, and in protecting loyal interests upon the magnificent rivers of the 
West. My other acts ai-e more than appreciated — this probably never will be." 
The obstacles were nevertheless overcome with a skill and promptness surprising 
to all who were unacquainted with the man and with the native energy oi his 
character , and long before active military operations commenced in the West, 
every one of the vessels comprising the flotilla was completed, and awaiting its 
crew and armament. 

Early in February, 1862, the long-expected advance against the enemy com- 



ANDREW HULL FOOTE. 251 

menced witli an attack on Fort Heniy, an important position on the Tennessee 
River ; and to Flag-Officer Foote was assigned the privilege of opening the cam- 
paign, and of demonstrating the efficiency of the flotilla in whose equipment he 
had labored so assiduously. His ileet of gunboats, seven in number, of which 
four were iron-clad, entered the Tennessee River on the 5th of February, with 
the design of co-oj^erating with a large land-force, under General Grant, in the 
reduction of the fort ; but the troops not arriving on the ground in season, Foote 
opened fire, at about noon of the 6th, with the gunboats alone, and after a spirited 
action of two hours, in which his vessels were pretty roughly handled, compelled 
the rebel General Tilghman to make an unconditional surrender. About twenty 
large guns and an immense amount of munitions fell into the hands of the federal 
commander. The prisoners numbered only about sixty, comprising tlie remnant 
of the garrison ; a rebel force of five thousand men, encamped outside the fort, 
having been dispersed by shots from the fleet during the progress of the fight. 
The Cincinnati, the flag-officer's ship, was liit thirty-one times ; but the casualties 
of the fleet, with the exception of the Essex (which received a shot in her boiler, 
whei'cby twenty-nine officers and men were injured), were slight. 

Having transferred the fort and prisoners to General Grant, who amved on 
the ground an hour after the surrender, Flag-Officer Foote returned to Cairo, and 
a few days later sailed for the Cumberland River, to assist the land-forces in an 
attack upon Fort Donelson, a work of great size and strength, mounting many 
heavy guns on the water-side. At three o'clock p. M., on the 14th of February, 
the fleet moved up to the attack, which for an hour and a quarter was conducted 
with great vigor on both sides, and would have resulted in the capture of the 
fort, had not the St. Louis, Foote's flag-ship, and the Louisville, become unman- 
ageable, by having their steering apparatus shot away, and drifted out of the fire. 
The enemy immediately returned to the guns from which they had been driven, 
and the remaining vessels were obliged to haul off, somewhat the worse for the 
encounter. The St. Louis alone received sixty-one shots, and among the wounded 
was her gallant commander, who was severely injured in the ankle by the frag- 
ment of a sixty -four-pound shot. With no thought of his own suffering, though 
moving with great difficulty upon crutches, he proceeded \ip the river in his flag- 
ship immediately after the surrender of the fort to the land-forces under General 
Grant, took possession of Clarksville without firing a gun, and destroyed the Ten- 
nessee Iron- Works, which had been used for the manufacture of iron plates for 
rebel steamers. 

After a brief respite at Cairo, Foote sailed down the Mississippi with his 
flotilla, greatly increased in efficiency by the addition of the mortar-boats, whose 
construction he had also superintended. The enemy evacuated their strong posi- 
tions at Columbus and Hickman previous to his approach, influenced doubtless 



252 NOTABLE MEN. 

by the wholesome terror which the gunboats (the ''iron hell-hounds,'' as General 
Pillow called them) had inspired among them; and on March 17th was com- 
menced the famous siege of Island Number Ten. Through all the tedious epi- 
sodes of that investment, Foote remained faithfully at his post ; although, from 
exertion and excitement, his wound grew daily more painful, until it was with 
the iitmost diflieulty he could ascend the deck of his ship. At length, on the 8th 
of April, the enemy, assailed in front by the flotilla and in the rear by the troops 
under General Pope (who after long delay had been conveyed across the Missis- 
sippi in l)oats), .surrendered their works, and the flotilla was at liberty to proceed 
to new conquests. But so debilitated had Flag-Officer Foote become during the 
interval, that, in the opinion of his medical advisers, retirement for a season from 
active service could alone preserve his life. Under these circumstances, he reluc- 
tantly applied to the government for a leave of absence, and early in May turned 
over his command to Cajitain Davis in an appropriate address to liis men, in 
which he was several times completely overcome by emotion. 

His return to his home, in New Haven, was one continuous ovation, and all 
along the route enthusiastic crowds greeted him with shouts of approval. Public 
recejjtions, which he invariably declined, were tendered to him in almost every 
city through which he passed. " I should be as able to renew the fight with my 
flotilla," he wrote, in reply to the invitation of a committee of the citizens of 
Cleveland, " as to be the recipient of your numerous favors ; and I know too 
well the intelligent citizens of Cleveland to doubt for a moment that they would 
deem this my paramount duty." A few weeks of rest restored him to health; 
but the opening of the Mississippi, which he had so brilliantly commenced, hav- 
ing by that time been so nearly accomplished, that the result was in no doubt, 
he was called to other duties of not less importance, and on the nomination of the 
President, which was confirmed by the Senate, was appointed chief of the bureau 
of equipment and recruiting, under the new organization of the navy. Of this 
office he is still the incumbent. He was also, though one of the youngest caj)- 
tains in point of rank in the navy, selected by the President — with the entire 
approbation of the people — as one of the seven rear-admirals on the active list 
authorized by the act of Congress. 

Thus much for the public services of Admiral Foote. In the peaceful walks 
of private life, he has shown the same strict sense of duty, the same energy in all 
good works, and withal a modesty characteristic of the true hero. Frank and 
unassuming in his manners, he is noted for his active philanthropy, his unobtru- 
sive piety, and his endeavors to elevate the moral condition of his race ; and 
has repeatedly vindicated his sincerity, in addresses at the religious anniversaries 
of our large cities. His religion is of too earnest a stamp to be repressed or 
weakened by ridicule, and on more than one occasion he has publicly shown 



ANDREW HULL FOOTE. 253 

liow deeply it is ingrained in his character. The often-repeated anecdote of his 
Sunday discourse at Cairo is one which history delights to treasure, and is too 
characteristic of the man to be omitted here. He had just returned from the 
capture of Fort Henry ; and in the fulfilment of a duty, with which, if possible, 
he never permitted any circumstances to interfere, he attended the regular ser- 
vices at the Presbyterian church in Cairo. The preacher, for some reason, was 
absent, and the congregation were about to leave, when Flag- Officer Foote arose 
and approached the desk. At the appearance of the weather-beaten veteran, fresh 
from his recent victory, " like a servant of the Lord, with his Bible and his sword,' 
the congregation were with difficulty restrained from breaking into applause. He 
checked them with a look, and, the first murmur of surprise havjug subsided, 
offered an impressive prayer, to which he added an extempore sermon. The 
commander who, emerging from the smoke and roar of a great battle, could 
stand before the people in the character of a preacher of the gospel, will be ac- 
knowledged a worthy descendant of the "men who fought and prayed" — the 
founders of religious and political liberty in New England. 

The orders of Admiral Foote upon assuming command of the flotilla, enjoin- 
ing a rigid observance of Sunday, and an avoidance, by both officers and men, 
of profane swearing and intemperance, are conceived in the same spirit which 
prompted his action on the above occasion, and stamp him as one who believes 
that religion and morals are not the least effective agents in making good sailors. 
Among the popular heroes whom the war has produced, no one is more honored 
or trusted ; and while such men survive in active duty, the early fame of the 
American navy will be fully sustained. 



END OF VOL. I. 



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MILITARY AND NATAL LEADERS. STATESMEN AND ORATORS, 

DISTINGUISHED IX THE AMERICAN CRISIS OF 18G1. 
Edited by TRANK MOORE, 

NVITH PORTRAITS ON" STEEL, EROiSI OKIGIN"AIl, SOURCES. 



Heroes and Martyrs Illustrated. 



A work of very attractive interest anil value is in preparation by Mr. G. P. Putn'am, the piibli^lier of the " Kebellitm 
Record." In a series of numbers liamlsnniely printed in quarto, ho propoL-es to give personal skstebes of tbo "Notable 
Men of the Time, anil the Heroes and Martyrs of the War," illustrated with lino portraits on steel, from original photo- 
graphs. Not only the generals and military leaders, but the YorNO men of genius and promise — such as Greble, Ells- 
worth, Winthrop. Lieut. Putnam, and others, distinguished by character ani talents in this great struggle — and the lead- 
ing statesmen and orators of all parties, will be fully and fairly represented by faithful and accurate biographies. The 
work is to be a seria', but will form, when completetl, a ban Isomc volume of permanent interest." — .V. Y. Com. Adv. 



Heroes, Martyrs, and Notable Men, 1861—9. 



Among the Portraits already engraved, or in progress, are the following 

they hecorae distinguished.] 



[Others will be included as 



Abk.iham Lincoln, 
W.M. H. Sewaki), 
Salmon P. Chask, 
Simon Cameron, 
GlllEON Wf.lleu, 
Charles Si'mnek, 
Henry Wilson, 
Daniel S. Dickinson, 
Edwaro Evehett, 
John P. Kknnedy, 
John J. Cuittendes, 
Andrew Johnson, 
Joseph Holt, 
Parsov Brownlow, 
Geo. D. Prentice, 
Gov. Wsr. SpRA(;tJE, 
Gov. E. D. Morgan, 
Wm. Collen Bryant, 
John Lothrop JIotlky, 
Wendell Phillips, 
Rev. Dr. Bellows, 
Rev. Dr. Tyng, 
Fred. Law Olmstead, 



Maj. Gen. G B. McClellan, 
JVfaj.-Gen. John E. Wool, 
Muj.-Gen. H. W. Hali.eck, 
Maj.-Gen. John C. Fremont, 
Maj. -Gen. N. P. Banks, 
Maj.-Gen. B. F. Butlkr, 
Maj. Gen. John A. Dix, 
Brig.-Gen. R. Anderson, 
Brig-Gen. Nath. Lvon, 
Brig.-Gen. W. J. Rosencran.s, 
Erig.-Geii. A. E. Bdrnside. 
Brig.-Gen. W. T. Sherman, 
Brig. Gen. E. D. Baker, 
Brig.-Gen. Louis Blenker, 
Brig.-Gen. Mansfield, 
Brig. Gen. JIcDowell, 
Brig.-Gen F. W. Lander, 
Brig-Gen. F. Siegel. 
Col. T. F. Meagher, 
Col. E. E. Ellsworth, 
Maj. Theo. Winthrop, 
Lieut Slemsier, 
Lieut. Greble, 
Lieut. Putnam. 



Capt. W.vrd, 
Commodore Stringham, 
Commodore Dupont, 
Captain Charles Wilkes, 



Lt.-Gen. Winfiei.d Scott, 



Jefferson Da\'is, 
A. H. Stephens, 
Rt. Rev. Bp. Polk, 
P. T. G. Beauregard, 
John C. Calhoun. 



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